Some Say Love
by Strickens
Summary: Set 3 years after Season 7. Dawn is training in Britain to become a Watcher, when Faith is shipped out to join her.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, all the characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Feedback: Much appreciated. As always, email me at shadowpanthergmail..com.

Pairing: Dawn/Faith

Warning: This story contains love scenes between two females, so if you're offended by female/female relationships or just plain don't want to read sex scenes, then I suggest you get the fudge out. :-)

Plot: It's 3 years after defeating the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. Dawn has been living in Britain to train as a Watcher, when a new arrival and an old friend make a surprise visit.

A/N: The idea of the title comes from the song some of you may or may not know, from Napoleon Dynamite, where they sing about all the different things people say love is like. When it comes down to it, there's no such thing as one set way to love someone. Just like no 2 snowflakes are the same. Each love is different and unique, and a special experience all on it's own that no one else can compare to. I especially think that love between Dawn and Faith is something that would just be so completely different, challenging, and yet so perfect.

* * *

><p>Dawn was in her office quarters, sorting through some paperwork and organizing notes and files for her upcoming speech at the annual Watcher's Council. Her brow was knitted together in concentration, her top teeth chewing down slightly on her lower lip as she scanned over the work in front of her.<p>

She had to make sure everything was perfect. If everything went smoothly within the next year, she was sure she could receive enough recommendations to be promoted from Trainee to full fledged Watcher.

Sighing to herself as she rolled her chair over to the nearest bookcase, she ran her fingers along the spines until she came to a dark red book with gold lettering that detailed into Occult practises and their roles in strengthening underground pockets of vampires.

As she was about to open the book up, the phone on her desk rang. She lifted her head up to look at it, and noticed it was Giles' extension showing up on the monitor.

Rolling herself back over to the desk, she picked up the phone and pressed the receiever to her ear.

"Hey Giles, what's up?" she cradled the phone with her shoulder, casually opening up the book and flicking through some pages.

"Dawn, I have some news you might be interested in." He spoke with a more enthusiastic tone than usual. Dawn lifted an eyebrow.

"What's the good word?" Dawn asked.

"A few of our slayers in your province have located several vampire lairs. They're believed to belong to the same vampires responsible for the outbreak of attacks on cattle farmers recently." Giles replied.

"That's great news! Can you fax me through the info?" Dawn smiled and stood up, walking over to her fax machine and loading it with way too many sheets of fresh paper. Dawn decided you could never be too sure when it came to Giles.

"It's already on it's way. I should also let you know, there's a slayer from here in America that's shipping out to assist with the culling." Giles told her.

Dawn squinted a little, slouching by the fax machine as it started to beep and whirr, before suddenly snatching a sheet of paper to be devoured by it's mechanical guts.

"Giles, we have plenty of slayers here, I'm sure we can han..." before Dawn could continue, Giles interrupted.

"I am aware of that, Dawn. However most of your slayers are still... how should I say this... 'wet behind the ears' when it comes to battle situations. Don't make me remind you of the incident with the Gorgun last year and your second team." she could hear the slight smile behind Giles' voice, but she scoffed and shook her head.

"I'll have you know that wasn't my fault OR my second teams' fault. They went in under instructions that there would only be 1, not 5." Dawn replied, watching as the fax machine began spitting out black and white pages of texts and photographs of locations, some of which Dawn was familiar with, others she wasn't.

"Yes well, nonetheless, your new charge has considerable battle experience and will be an asset for you as a Watcher regardless. They'll be arriving tomorrow, the flight information should be there with the other sheets I faxed through." he continued. Dawn looked down at the pile and waited as, just as Giles had said, a thinly lettered sheet with the flight number, gate and time on it popped out.

"Right. Thanks Giles, and just who might I be picking up tomorrow?" Dawn asked sarcastically, picking up the piece of paper and searching around her desk for a lump of blu-tack. She eventually found one and tore off a bit, clumsily tacking it to the back of the paper and then in turn, mashing it against the side of her computer monitor.

"You'll know them when you see them. Anyway, I must go, there is paperwork that won't do itself. Have a nice night, Dawn, and take care." Giles started speaking rather quickly, and Dawn suddenly wondered what all the big secrecy was about.

"Right, you too Giles, bye." She hung up the receiver, frowning once again as she looked at the flight information, then back over at the information still sitting in the tray of the fax machine. Sighing to herself and rubbing her temple, she quickly pulled it from the tray and plopped it on her desk.

Her head was starting to ache, and her body was starting to feel tired and worn out.

She lifted her left arm to check the time on her watch. 10:43PM. Stretching herself out to try and remove the kinks from the days work, she decided now would be as good a time as any to go to bed and get some rest for her trip to the airport tomorrow.

* * *

><p>Lifting her eyelids lazily, Dawn rolled onto her side and yawned sleepily. The sun was entering her room through her thin curtains, not enough to blind her, but enough to not let her forget that it was time to get up. Groaning to herself, she looked over at her bedside clock.<p>

1:24PM.

Dawn suddenly was wide awake, and jumped out of bed, tripping over her bedsheets as she did so. With a yelp, she stumbled to her feet, detangling herself from the sheets and running over to her closet, rummaging with renewed force for proper clothing.

That damn alarm clock! She swore to herself that she needed to replace it everytime it didn't go off and made her late for yet another appointment. She didn't want to admit that she never really grew out of old habits, where Buffy literally had to drag her out of bed and dress her herself just to get her to school.

Not having time to sort through everything properly, she picked out a simple pair of sandwashed jeans and a spaghetti strap black shirt. She reached further into the closet and grabbed out her knee length black leather jacket.

She was still in the middle of buttoning it up as she grabbed her purse and swung it over her left shoulder, her car keys which she placed between her teeth, then finally grabbing her boots and pulling them on.

Double checking she had everything, she rushed her way out of her room, not even bothering to lock it behind her, and leaving the Watcher's HQ in a slight jog to reach her car.

* * *

><p>On the way to the airport, Dawn swore it had to be one of the worst traffic jams ever. And right when she NEEDED to be somewhere.<p>

Apparently some moron cut off someone else as they were trying to over take, and rear ended them. Oh yes, Dawn made sure she got the full story from the nearest police officer, before hastily telling them of her dire situation and her need to get to the airport.

Even flashing them her most seductive look, they had simply told her to go back to her car and wait patiently like everyone else. So much for a police escort...

Then there was the tollbooths. She hated these things. Charging you to park at the airport, when in reality you wouldn't even be there for that long anyway. Even if you were under half an hour, the prices were insane! Yes, she would be paying for it out of her Watcher's allowance, but that wasn't the point.

She grumbled to herself as she finally found a parking spot and drove into it as fast as she could, almost hitting the car parked adjacent to her as she slammed on the brakes.

Getting out of the car with a vengeance and slamming the door, then pressing the beeper to lock it and set the alarm, she walked quickly to the entrance to the receiving gate she needed to be at.

Walking through the sliding doors, she weaved her way through couples and families and single people, some coming and some going. Some with huge trolleys stacked to the top with luggage, others with bulky suitcases swinging wildly at their sides as they hurried to and from buisiness appointments.

Dawn looked up at the board and scanned the glowing numbers and letters for the flight that her slayer was arriving on. She spotted it, and let out a sigh of relief. She was at least 30 minutes early. Despite all the traffic that held her up, she was greatful for the late flight that the slayer was arriving on.

Deciding that her mouth was slightly parched from her rushed departure this morning, she walked over to the security gates, detaching everything metal from her body and emptying her pockets into the trays and sliding them along the rollers through the x-ray machine, then passing through the scanner. She collected her items on the other side and went on her way to find a cafe` to get a bite to eat from and a drink.

She ordered a large chocolate milkshake and a ham and cheese sandwich, taking her order and sitting down to enjoy it. She might have been an adult now, but let's face it, chocolate milkshakes are something completely amazing, no matter how young or old you are.

She finished her sandwich and was halfway through her milkshake when she checked the time. She still had like 15 minutes. She finished up her drink and stood, went over and payed, then left to find the gate she needed to be at.

It was busy. A lot of people were there, some waiting for their friends and family to arrive, others waiting so they could board the plane after it had emptied to go to their destination. She lowered her eyebrows, scanning for an empty seat, but the first one she could see was quite some distance away from the gate.

Oh well, as long as she could still see the people coming out from the plane, it would be fine.

She took a seat and pulled out her cellphone, flipping it open and going through to her internet browser to check her emails. Several from Giles... she ignored them for now. There was one from Buffy. She opened it up.

_Hi Dawnie!_

_I hope everything over in Britain is treating you nicely. Giles said you're progressing in your training so much so that we might even be able to see you for Christmas this year. I'd really love that, we all miss you so badly here!_

_Things have been slow, not a lot of work for a slayer of my calibre around here anymore. And with all the other slayers now, I almost never have to do anything. Actually it's kinda' boring... wish I was there with you and all the action... oh hold on, Willow's here, she wants to say something._

_HI DAWN! Oh my gosh, we miss you sssoooo much, you NEED to come and visit us soon ok? I mean, I know you're busy with training and learning and... and all that watchery type stuff, but it's so boring here without you :( I have no one to play Battleship with or go shopping for dresses with... well, ok Buffy is glaring at me. That's not true, I could shop with her, or play Battleship with her, but... I miss doing it with you. Oh, before we go, good luck with your new slayer! I think you two will get along just fine, hehe._

_Lots of love,_

_Willow & Buffy_

Dawn smiled and laughed quietly to herself as she finished reading the email. It was so refreshing to hear from them. She did miss them so badly, but her training didn't allow for her to take any holidays. Well, they did, but only weekend holidays, which wasn't nearly enough to catch a flight and spend a decent amount of time with her family and friends before flying back to the UK.

She frowned a little at that thought and sighed. What she would give for a familiar face right now...

"Why the long face?"

Dawn froze in place, too frightened to look up. It couldn't be... that voice... so husky and sensual. And accompanying it, the most delicious, loin tingling scent.

Slowly, Dawn lifted her face up, trailing up the long leather clad legs, the tight fitting red tank top, before finally resting on the grinning face of Faith. Dawn forgot to breathe. It wasn't possible that she was even more beautiful now than she had been the last time she'd seen her. Her face framed by beautiful flowing locks of dark black hair.

Faith bent down a little.

"What's the matter, cat got your tongue?" Faith grinned, winking. Dawn suddenly shot up.

"Faith! I... the... plane arrived? I... wasn't expecting... I didn't..." Dawn stumbled for words, suddenly embarassing herself and feeling a deep blush spread accross her cheeks and down her neck.

"HOW WAS YOUR FLIGHT?" Dawn asked nervously, her voice suddenly coming out a lot louder than she expected. Faith laughed at the nervous girl.

"It's been a while, hasn't it? Did ya' miss me?" Faith asked, suddenly moving forwards and embracing Dawn in a toe tingling hug. Dawn felt her body go limp slightly, but she managed to hug her back. As they broke apart, Dawn picked up her purse from her chair and looked back at Faith. She cleared her throat and tried to gain her composure.

"It has been... too long. Giles didn't tell me... that it was you coming." Dawn replied, giving her a lopsided smile. Faith laughed.

"That was actually B's idea. She thought it would be a nice surprise for you, seeing as you've been so long away from civilisation and all." Faith grinned and lazily draped her arm over Dawn's shoulders as they began walking down the hustling and bustling corridors, evading as many pushy and determined people as they could.

"Buffy huh. I'll have to thank her." Dawn shook her head slightly. "She's right though, I've been spending so much time delving into my studies and watching over my slayers, I've practically had no time to go out and socialize like anyone else my age should be."

Faith squeezed her shoulder lightly.

"Don't worry, I'm here to fix that for you!" Faith told her enthusiastically. Dawn laughed.

"You're here to help me fix the vampire situation, not my lack of social skills and my 'living under a rock' lifestyle." Dawn replied to her, bumping her shoulder into her side slightly.

Faith smiled brightly. She was so happy to see Dawn. She didn't think that it would be possible, that this once annoying, immature little brat had grown up to be such a mature, strong headed, beautiful, shapely, tantalizing...

Faith shook her head, and started to have a coughing fit as she realized where her thoughts were wandering.

"You ok?" Dawn raised an eyebrow at her. Faith nodded.

"The air... isn't as polluted here... guess I'm not used to it." Faith glanced sideways. Yeah... that's believable. She gave a nervous laugh.

They made their way to the baggage claims and waited as the bags started to roll around on the conveyor belt.

"That's my bag." Faith said quickly, just as her and Dawn both reached forwards to grab it. Their hands touched slightly. Dawn pulled her hand back suddenly, as if she'd just touched a hot plate. Faith inhaled quickly and grabbed the bag.

"I got it, you let me do the heavy lifting. Don't want to hurt your pretty little head." Faith grinned at her with a sultry look. Dawn blushed again.

"I'll have you know, I'm not as weak as I look." she replied, somewhat defensively. Faith rolled her eyes.

"Sure, I bet you think you could beat me in an arm wrestle too." Faith said sarcastically, reaching out as her 2nd and last large bag of luggage came around. She'd packed light, but only because Giles was giving her a very nice bonus from the Watcher's Council for coming out here. She planned on spending it on as many new clothes as possible.

"I could!" Dawn told her triumphantly, an indignant expression on her face. Ah, Faith smiled. There was the little Dawn she knew. She reached over and ruffled Dawn's long brown hair, much to the girl's dismay.

"Stop it! I'm not a little kid anymore." Dawn told her forcefully, slapping her hand away. Faith pouted, but inside she was silently agreeing. She could see Dawn's cleavage peeking out slightly from the one button that had popped open at the top of her coat. She licked her lips slightly.

'Oh god Faith, cut it out already!' Faith silently scolded herself.

She pulled the retractable handles out on her 2 luggage bags, starting to pull them along behind her as her and Dawn headed outside to the car park.

* * *

><p>The car trip to the Watcher's HQ was in relative silence, apart from Dawn every so often scolding Faith for putting her boots up on the dashboard, or changing the radio station from a song she was listening to, or turning up a song so loudly it hurt Dawn's ears while also singing along enthusiastically to it.<p>

Despite how Faith was still the Faith that Dawn remembered helping them to close the Hellmouth in Sunnydale, there was something different about her. Something more...

Dawn squinted to herself. When the hell did Faith get so fucking attractive anyway? She didn't ever remember her being that attractive 3 years ago. But technically, she really doesn't look any different at all. So what the hell is it?

Dawn shook her head as Faith leant over and started serenading her to a sexy song that had just come on. She glared slightly at the raven slayer, but couldn't help but laugh as Faith made lovey eyes and clasped her hands together while singing.

"You're the answeeerr, all this time I've tried to find you I've been yearning, you're the answer to the question that's been burnniiinnggg..." Faith sung along to the Britney Spears song.

"You're going to kill us both, Faith." Dawn stated, laughing quietly. "I'm trying to drive."

Faith smiled lecherously at her.

"Hey, at least you'll die finally having some fun in your life." Faith told her, very matter of factly, before going back to singing along to the song. Dawn sighed.

Life was certainly going to be more interesting now that Faith was here...

* * *

><p>"This is the sparring room, next door is the washroom and changing room, and next to that is the gym." Dawn was showing Faith around the complex. She had nearly finished the tour, the only thing left to do was to take Faith upstairs to her new room.<p>

"Nice place. Really nice. B would be jealous." Faith grinned at Dawn, who smiled slightly.

"She would be. Maybe she'll actually get to see this place someday." Dawn replied, starting to lead them to the foyer and up the stair case. Faith frowned slightly.

"I'm sorry Dawnie... I didn't mean it like that. I know it must be hard for you, not seeing your family for so long..." before Faith could continue, Dawn interrupted.

"It's fine, really. I have a job to do, and so do they. I know I'll get to see Buffy and Willow and everyone else again, I just need to focus on finishing my training first." Dawn looked at the raven slayer seriously, but Faith could tell the younger girl was troubled by her feelings on the matter. Faith nodded slowly.

They reached the top floor, and Dawn led Faith down 4 doors, pulling out a large set of keys she had clipped to her belt. She searched around for the right one, before pushing it into the lock and opening the door.

Faith stepped slowly into the room, eyeing it off with bright eyes.

"Geez... you guys have some killer digs here." she said quietly and in awe.

The room was beautifully furnished, with a queen sized bed, a 2 seater lounge, a flatscreen TV and coffee table. A stainless steel kitchenette and a whole bunch of other amenities.

Faith wandered through and opened up a door that led to a bathroom. Her mouth dropped open.

"A jacuzzi?" She looked at Dawn, who shrugged.

"It helps the slayers to unwind and relax the muscles after heavy training sessions." she replied.

"Damn... I could REALLY get used to this." She smiled, looking around her. Dawn smiled back.

"Don't get too comfortable, you know you'll be spending most of your nights out on the field leading my teams." Dawn replied. Faith lowered her eyebrows and focussed her stare on Dawn.

"Wait... did I hear right? Leading?" she asked as if suddenly someone was trying to play some kind of prank on her. Dawn went over and took a seat on the bed, laying back a little to relax.

"That's right. They could use some guidance from a slayer who's seen it all. I mean, I'm proud of my girls but... they could use some serious ass kickings. I might be in charge, but when it comes to going out in the field, I can't be there yelling at them what to do and what not to do." Dawn started to prop herself back up. "That's where you'd come in. Think you're up to it?"

Faith was quiet for a moment before replying.

"Are you kidding me? You're looking at the Queen of Slayers here!" Faith suddenly broke into a huge grin and puffed her chest out. "You've got yourself a leader."

Dawn grinned.

"Good. I need to go over some information Giles sent me before I can go over an attack plan with you and the girls, but in the mean time you just get some rest. Settle in, get something to eat, whatever you want." she told her firmly as she pushed herself off the bed and stood up.

Faith looked at her with a glint in her eyes. She didn't know who this new Dawn was... dominating, strong, smart... but she liked her. She liked her a lot...

"Say... how about, before we get settled into business... maybe um... you could show me around town tonight? Show me the sights..." Faith raised an eyebrow and ran a hand accross her stomach slowly and suggestively. Dawn swallowed.

"Uh... I don't know... much about... clubs and stuff if that's what you mean but... we can go out if you like..." Dawn replied, with a small smile, trying to hide her nervousness. Faith bit her lip quickly to hide back a satisfied grin.

"It's a date then! I'll have something to eat and get cleaned up and put something nice on... then you can show me the world." Faith replied cheekily, walking past Dawn with a sway in her hips.

Dawn didn't realize her mouth was hanging open slightly. She quickly shut it, in the process nearly biting her tongue.

"Ok!" she quickly called out, and scurried off to her bedroom to find something to wear. She at least needed clean underwear, for some reason, hers seemed to be covered with a damp patch...

* * *

><p>"This is gonna' be great!" Faith proclaimed from the passenger seat, bopping along to the tune on the radio, along with the 3 other slayers that had begged to join them, in the back seat. Dawn was driving.<p>

"Do you club often Faith?" Called out a girl from the back seat who had short, ruffled red hair. Faith guffawed, Dawn laughed quietly.

"It's about all I had left to do back in America. Geez, that place has become a deadzone. No fun anywhere anymore. I was actually thinking about pissing off and touring the world when Buffy and Giles came to me with this job offer." Faith smiled broadly, tapping her feet along to the music.

The girls in the back giggled.

"Yeah, Faith's a real adventurer, isn't that right?" Dawn said sarcastically, raising an eyebrow at the excited slayer. Faith just grinned and nodded in reply.

"I heard Faith slayed 50 demons with nothing but a piece of razor wire!" Proclaimed a girl with shoulder length brown hair.

"Oh Jen, I don't know about that." Dawn scoffed, which warranted a pout from Faith. Dawn saw the look, and smiled playfully at her.

"Ok we're here." Dawn pulled into a parking spot and got out of the car, waiting for everyone else to exit before locking it.

Faith pranced off into the distance, the 3 girls in tow, as Dawn shook her head then tried to catch up.

The nearest club that she had known of was The Subterranian. She had only been there once or twice, but it was ok. Good dance music, nice atmosphere. 'Plenty of girls to stare at'.

Dawn stopped in her tracks and suddenly scolded herself. What the hell, where did that thought come from? She pushed it away and continued to catch up to Faith and the others who were waiting in line.

Dawn couldn't help but notice her eyes being glued to the raven slayer's appearance. She was wearing a very low cut denim skirt, a black bra with just a white seethrough shirt over the top of it. Don't forget the knee high black leather boots. Dawn shook her head.

She had done her best to dress up for the night. She was wearing her patented raccoon eyes, her hair was clipped back at the sides, and styled into some semblance of sexiness. She was wearing tight denim jeans and a simple white shirt that buttoned up, with lacy bits on the sleeves and the bottom hem.

She coughed quietly, trying to distract herself from Faith's body. She did so just in time to see Faith turn around and grin raunchily at her. Dawn smiled nervously, coming up to stand beside her, as the 3 slayers were chatting away excitedly.

The line moved up, and the bouncer took one look at Faith, just as she slipped an arm around Dawn's waist, and quickly waved them in. Faith laughed to herself. Men... so predictable!

Dawn blushed a scarlet red at the sensation of Faith's arm around her, but quickly scuttled away from her as they entered the club. She quickly found a seat at the bar and ordered herself a beer.

Faith sat down beside her, quickly calling out to the bartender to get her a beer too. The 3 slayers had already rushed off to the dancefloor and were bopping away with each other to the blaring techno music.

"So... those girls seem to like having a good time. Why don't they drag you out with them?" Faith asked casually. Her and Dawn thanked the bartender as he served them their cold beers. Dawn took a sip.

"They do it to unwind and relax... have a good time. I'm seen as the serious, parental, watcher. Besides, I barely have enough time to go out anyway." Dawn told her, with a shake of her head. Faith looked at her carefully.

"You don't have enough time to go out? Or you don't MAKE time to go out?" Faith asked her. Dawn looked at her, then looked away.

Faith reached over and took Dawn's face in her hands, turning her to face her. Dawn suddenly felt like there was a pack of butterflies inside her stomach.

"You're still young Dawn, you gotta live. Gotta have fun. If you can't do that, you're going to end up like Giles. Old and grey and obsessed with books." she grinned sideways, finally getting a laugh out of the younger girl.

"Yeah well, who knows. Maybe now that you're here, now that I have someone I'm close to... maybe I can start having a little more fun." she stated quietly, taking another swig of her beer. Faith hit her playfully on the shoulder.

"Damn right! Now, are you gonna come join me on the dance floor or what?" the raven slayer asked her with a cheeky smile. Dawn blushed.

"No, not yet I... you go ahead, I'm gonna finish my drink first." she said sheepishly. Faith pouted.

"Come on Dawn, let your hair down!" she replied. Dawn shook her head.

"You go ahead, I'll be there soon, I promise." Dawn told her, with a comforting smile on her face. Faith looked a little dissappointed, but she eventually nodded and ran off to the dance floor to join the others.

Dawn sighed to herself and leant her face in her hands. What's wrong with you? What's so bad about going over there and having a dance? Nothing, that's what! You're just a big party pooping chicken shit, Dawn!

She growled and reached for her pitcher, downing the thing as quickly as she could. The bartender saw this and raised an eyebrow. Dawn waved her hand at her mug, motioning for a refill. He did so quite happily.

Dawn took it and instantly downed half of it. She glared at the dance floor for a few minutes as the beer settled in her stomach.

Faith was dancing along to a sexy trance version of "If you Seek Amy", grinding her body up against Tracy, the red headed slayer. She could see her hips rocking and moving rhythmically in time to the music, matching the moves of Tracy.

Dawn didn't realize that she was frowning until her forehead started to hurt. She rubbed her head and reached for her drink sculling the rest of it.

Plonking it down on the bar, she looked over and saw Tracy and Faith facing each other, their faces within far too close proximity to each other...

What the hell is wrong with you Dawn? She asked herself, feeling this strange burning, sickening feeling in her gut welling up at the sight. Was it jealousy? Dawn didn't really know much about jealousy, she'd never been able to hold down a serious relationship. She was always too busy or too distracted.

She suddenly felt the beer starting to hit her, and before she even realized what she was doing, she found herself sauntering over to the dance floor.

Faith looked over, and saw Dawn finally get up from where she'd been moping and drinking. There was something in her eyes, this fire, this sexy, tantalizing look that sent shivers down Faith's spine. Had her dancing with Tracy worked to make her jealous?

Faith swallowed hard as Dawn came over and pushed everyone else out of the way and wrapped an arm around the raven slayer's neck and started grinding against her to the song "Can't be Tamed". Faith felt her legs go weak as the younger girl slid all the way down to her knees then back up, spinning around and pressing her buttocks into Faith. She reached around and grabbed Faith's hands, pressing them into her abdomen just underneath her breasts.

The 3 girls watched on as their watcher finally started loosening up.

"WWOOOO!" Jen cheered, grinning at the others as they continued dancing.

Faith couldn't deny the feelings rushing through her bloodstream. Her heart was pounding too quickly, too hard. What the fuck was this girl doing to her? Every bit of her skin was tingling, and it was like electric shocks everytime a bit of it came in contact with Dawn's.

To Dawn, there was nothing else in the room, just her and Faith. Just them trying to prove something to each other, trying to get a message to each other. What it was, neither of them knew at this point.

Dawn could feel her head getting light from the beer. She barely ever drank, so it didn't take much to get her tipsy.

Faith spun her around and brought their lips within millimetres from each other. All she could feel right now was this intense need, this incurable desire. She wanted to consume Dawn's lips and never let her go. She could smell the beer on the watcher's breath, and she teased her by moving her lips around to her neck while they continued grinding against each other.

Just when Dawn was about to pull Faith's lips to her own for a kiss, the song ended. The watcher finally came out of her trance, her lips trembling as she realized what she was doing. Faith licked her own lips in anticipation, waiting for the kiss to come, but it never did.

Dawn suddenly whispered "Shit!" under her breath, and ran off. Faith cursed to herself silently.

"That was HOT!" Yelled Jen, with a huge grin on her face. Faith raised an eyebrow, then left the dance floor to go find Dawn.

She grabbed her pitcher of beer from the bar before heading outside. There she found Dawn, leaning against the wall around the corner with her eyes closed.

"You ok?" Faith asked, taking a sip of beer. Dawn opened her eyes and looked over at her.

"Yeah. I just... I... I'm not used to drinking." Dawn lied. Even though the beer was making her feel a little funny, that wasn't the reason she'd run off. She'd run off because she was feeling things near Faith that she didn't understand. Things she'd never, ever, felt with anyone before. She felt a faint throbbing between her legs.

Faith smiled at her, taking another sip of beer.

"Bit of a lightweight hey?" she teased, leaning on the wall next to her. "That's ok, you'll be drinking like a pro in a few months time." she grinned. Dawn laughed.

"I doubt that. Besides, I think I've reached my limit. Someone's gotta drive us all home." Dawn replied. Faith nodded.

"You got a point." she said, drinking more of her beer. "By the way, nice moves in there." she grinned behind her mug.

Dawn's mouth opened but nothing came out, and her face went red as a lobster. Faith giggled.

"Come on, back inside with you. We've still got all night to have fun, and you know now you don't need to drink just to have fun." Faith winked at Dawn cheekily, eliciting an embarassed yelp from the younger girl.

"Faith...!" she gasped out loud as the raven slayer grabbed her by the hand, dragging her back into the club.

* * *

><p>It ended up being a good night after all. Dawn hadn't drunk anymore, but Faith and the other 3 had gotten VERY happy, and very entertaining.<p>

She pulled the car up to HQ as quietly as she could, but wasn't expecting the loudly laughing 4 slayers that exited the car upon it's parking.

"SHHHH!" she told them insistently, but they just copied her in their drunken state.

"ShhhshHHh!" "ShhhhhhhhhSHH Dawn said SHhhh!" "SHHHhhh..." they all teased her, except for Faith who was just sauntering along, laughing at the younger girls.

Dawn growled under her breath and opened up the front doors, letting them all in.

"Be quiet on the way up to your rooms, don't wake any of the others up!" Dawn warned them in a hushed tone, but it seemed to fall on deaf ears. She shook her head as they giggled all the way up stairs and on the way to their rooms.

"GOODNIGHT DAWN AND FAITH!" They all called out to them at the same time.

"Keep it down!" Dawn scolded them yet again. Faith began a chuckling fit, leaning against the wall and slowly sliding down it as she pawed at Dawn's left leg.

_"goooodddnnight dawn and faaiiith!"_ the girls whispered back. They entered their rooms, Dawn could still hear faint giggling. She shook her head while frowning.

"You guys... you guys make the... the _best_ beer." Faith told Dawn, very seriously. Dawn sighed and leant down, pulling Faith's right arm over her shoulder, then standing, hoisting her up to her feet.

"You mean British beer?" Dawn asked her, guiding her over to her bedroom door. Faith squinted.

"What's that?" the raven slayer asked her, quite seriously. Dawn groaned, reaching for her keys and opening the door. She could smell Faith's breath, the pungent smell of beer wafting off it and up to her nostrils.

As much as she wanted to think it disgusting, right now all she could think about was what it would taste like. Tasting her lips with the flavours of alcohol and cigarette smoke on them, tasting her breath as their tongues clashed together furiously. She blushed.

Dawn closed the door behind them, guiding Faith over to the bed and helping her to sit down on it. Faith chuckled as she watched Dawn carefully removing her boots.

Dawn stood up and pulled the sheets back on the bed, taking a hold of Faith's legs and sliding her in underneath them.

"Dawwnnnnie..." Faith mumbled, her arms reaching out for the girl. Dawn pulled the sheets up to Faith's chest, trying not to pay attention to the soft look in the raven slayer's eyes as she watched her tuck her in.

"I hope you realize that you're going to feel like crap in the morning." Dawn told her sternly as she sat on the edge of the bed beside her. Faith looked at her quizically.

"But I feel great now... you're here... I'm here... this... this is perfect right now..." Dawn could tell that Faith was starting to drift off into a state of an alcohol induced sleep. Dawn smiled.

"I... I'm so happy to see you... again." Faith continued, her eyes closing slowly. Dawn leant over and stroked her hair, carefully tucking the dark strands behind her right ear.

"I'm happy to see you again too, Faith..." Dawn replied quietly. Faith made a cute little noise, and cuddled up to her pillow. Dawn laughed as quietly as she could and stood.

As she got up and started to leave the room, she turned her head back momentarily to make sure Faith was still peacefully asleep in her bed. With a quick pang inside her chest, she turned the light off and gently closed the door.

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><p>Note: Please review and comment, let me know what you think of this fic, and if you'd like me to continue it! :) 33<p> 


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, all the characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Feedback: Much appreciated. As always, email me at shadowpanthergmail..com.

Pairing: Dawn/Faith

Warning: This story contains love scenes between two females, so if you're offended by female/female relationships or just plain don't want to read sex scenes, then I suggest you get the fudge out. :-)

Plot: It's 3 years after defeating the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. Dawn has been living in Britain to train as a Watcher, when a new arrival and an old friend make a surprise visit.

A/N: Here's the next chapter. I got a good amount of positive feedback on this story, so it looks like I'll be working on this one a fair bit while my other fic is on break. Enjoy ^_^

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><p>Faith awoke to the sensation of what felt like 3 jackhammers all pounding away inside her skull, and 5 leprechauns all dancing an Irish jig inside her stomach.<p>

She groaned and rolled over onto her side, grimacing as the full realization of what happened last night hit her.

"Jesus christ, what do these people put in their beer?" She spat out to herself through her parched lips, suddenly holding back the urge to release her stomach contents right there and then.

As she kept her eyes closed tightly, she tried to remember what had happened last night. She didn't remember how on earth she came to get back to her room, let alone much of what had happened when they were out clubbing last night.

She reached up and rubbed her eyes, trying to remove the sleepy dust that was clinging to her eyelashes.

She slowly opened her eyes and squinted against the pale sunlight that was filtering into her bedroom. It was as she lifted her head to scan her surroundings, that her bedroom door slowly opened, and a blurry, tall person entered. She rubbed her eyes some more.

"Glad to see you're finally awake." Came the quiet voice of Dawn, as she made her way over to the bed, placing a small glass of yellow liquid down on the bedside table as she did.

Faith groaned and eyed the glass before looking up at Dawn. How could that girl look so stunning, even at this time of the morning? Actually, what time was it?

Faith started to sit up slowly and reached over to grab Dawn's arm, pulling it to her.

"Shit, 12:30, did I really sleep in that long?" Faith cursed as she checked the time on the girl's watch. Dawn raised an eyebrow.

"You do realize how much you drank last night, right?" Dawn asked her flatly. Faith shook her head, but instantly regretted it as the jackhammers increased their pounding. She hissed.

"Here, take this." Dawn took the glass of yellow liquid and handed it to Faith, along with what appeared to be 2 pills of aspirin. The raven slayer eyed off the drink suspisciously.

"What is it? Some kind of potion? More alcohol?" Faith asked carefully. Dawn slapped her arm gently.

"Soda Bicarbonate and Vitamin C in water. It will help your stomach. Make sure you drink plenty of water, too." Dawn told her very sternly, watching as the reluctant Faith downed the liquid with the aspirin. She handed the empty glass back to Dawn, who took it and stood, looking down at her firmly.

"The cafeteria downstairs is open for lunch, you should get something to eat... anything to eat." Dawn shook her head, watching as the raven slayer slowly pulled back the sheets and slid herself into the sitting position on the edge of the bed.

Dawn swallowed slightly as she noticed that Faith must have removed her skirt at some point in the night, and was now only wearing a white pair of hipster briefs with her shirt.

"That's if I can stomach anything." Faith said groggily, standing up and stretching slowly while yawning, not noticing how Dawn was eyeing off her figure as she did this.

Dawn coughed suddenly.

"Yes, well, I'll be downstairs having lunch. You uh... know where to find me." she spoke quickly, and before Faith had a chance to reply, Dawn had already shot out of the room.

Faith chuckled to herself slightly, and went to search for some appropriate pants to wear in public.

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><p>Dawn was sitting at a table big enough for about 6 people, conversing quietly with Tracy and Jen from last night. She picked at her vegetable salad as she listened to Tracy laughing about how last night Brianna was in the bathroom every half an hour puking her guts up from drinking.<p>

The watcher in training was more worried about the information she had gone over early this morning. One of the locations for a larger group of vampires was worryingly close to their HQ, just on the outskirts of town.

She didn't want to worry herself or her slayers by assuming that the vampires were trying to close in on them and could possibly be planning an attack on their base. She just had to keep reassuring herself that it wouldn't happen. Her teams, led by Faith, would take out the rogue group tonight, and then from there they could work their way out to the more far reaching areas and finish off the rest.

Dawn was shaken from her thoughts as the chair next to her pulled out, and a still groggy looking raven slayer took a seat next to her. Dawn looked at her and smiled.

"Just so you know, I'd much rather be in bed right now. You're just lucky I'm a sucker for a pretty face." Faith told her with a lopsided smile, pulling herself up closer to the table and the plate of food she had before her.

"That I can believe." Dawn replied, rolling her eyes. Faith grinned and took her fork, stabbing at the eggs on her plate.

"Soooo Faith, did Dawn tuck you in real nice last night?" teased Tracy , who was sitting accross from Dawn. The watcher shot her a warning look, but the girl just smiled innoccently.

Faith stopped just as she was about to put the egg into her mouth, giving a quick glance to Dawn, who was doing her very best to surpress a blush, but only partly succeeding. As her lips quickly turned up into a devious smile, she replied the only way Faith could.

"You mean you guys COULDN'T hear her screams from down the hallway?"

Tracy and Jen both went stone faced, before quickly turning back to their own food which had, apparently, just become incredibly interesting. Faith snickered under her breath as she watched the blush creeping up their necks.

Dawn glared at Faith, but on the inside, she was glowing. Oh Faith, sometimes I truly love...

Dawn shook her head. "I WAS just tucking her in. You don't know Faith like I do, if I didn't do that, she probably would have wandered off somewhere and fallen asleep half dressed on the staircase or something." Dawn took an angry bite of her salad.

Faith laughed, but she felt a little surge of emotion go through her chest. Dawn had really been caring enough to put her to bed and make sure she was ok? She didn't remember a time when anyone had ever cared about her to that extent. She took a bite of her eggs mixed with some mashed potatoes.

"Anyway, you guys had your fun last night. Tonight we get down to business. Tracy I want you round up the girls at around 2pm for a meeting in the room next to my office. Ok?" Dawn asked, looking accross at the 2 girls seriously. Tracy nodded.

"Yes boss." she replied with a slight smile, which warranted a glare from Dawn, and a laugh from Faith.

Before they could be reprimanded, they stood up and took off, trying to ignore the watcher's eyes burning into the back of their heads.

"Everything ok?" Faith asked her before taking another bite of her food. Dawn sighed and plucked a leaf of lettuce from her salad, twirling it between her fingers.

"We've never had vampire clans this close to home before. It doesn't seem... usual. But then again, I could be wrong. Maybe I'm just worrying about nothing." Dawn replied, frowning slightly before chomping on her leaf of lettuce.

She felt a hand suddenly snake over and slide down to her inner thigh, squeezing it gently. Dawn tried hard to hold back a gasp.

"It's ok, we'll deal with it. I'm sure it's just coincidence." Faith told her with a slight smile. Dawn tried to inhale as she felt the warmth from Faith's hand slowly spread through her jeans and to her skin.

"You're probably right. Maybe I'm just getting worked up over nothing." Dawn replied, stabbing her salad with her fork and taking a large mouthful. She let out a breath and thanked the gods quietly as Faith's hand slowly left her leg.

She watched as Faith finished her food and stood up. She gave the watcher a wink.

"I'm gonna go down to the armory and get some stuff together." she told Dawn in a very relaxed voice and started to walk off.

"Don't forget, meeting at 2pm!" Dawn quickly called after her. Faith held up a hand in a quick wave as she jogged out of the cafeteria. Dawn cursed silently, looking back down at her salad and suddenly deciding she wasn't really hungry anymore.

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><p>Dawn was setting up the board room in preperation for the meeting. She was going over the papers she had in front of her on the table, copying down important information from it to the whiteboard.<p>

How many vampires there were believed to be, most popular entrance to the cave, aprroximate feeding time, area obstacles to be wary of. She squinted as she went over everything she'd written down so far.

This particular coven was close to a cow milking farm, and they'd been snacking off at least 18 cows every 2-3 nights. She figured because it was in a more country area, it was easier for them to keep out of human sight, making it less likely they'd be hunted down and slain. But also because there wasn't as many people out there, drinking the blood of the plentiful cattle out there was a great option.

Dawn turned as the door to the room opened. Faith sauntered in, giving Dawn a cheeky smile, as a group of about 12 girls followed behind her. They were all chattering away, and quickly went to find seats.

Faith pulled up a chair closest to Dawn and the white board, resting her boots on the table. Dawn gave her an annoyed glare.

"Ok, so is everyone here?" Dawn asked, looking around. They all nodded.

"So, tonight, we'll be going South East of here to this location." she pointed to the board where she had copied down a map as best as she could in black ink. She turned back to the girls.

"They've been spotted coming out between the hours of 1am and 2am in groups of 4. In total it's estimated there's around 26 of them altogether. I want you all in groups of 3, keep it tight. Faith will lead the attack in. Watch her, listen to her, if she tells you to do something, you do it. I don't want any of you questioning her, do I make myself crystal clear?" Dawn firmly spoke to her group, awaiting as they all nodded in reply, some of them giving a "yes."

"I don't want this to go awry, just keep it together. Make sure you suit up properly in the armory before leaving. Triple check everything, leave nothing to chance. It should be a relatively straight forward culling, but even so I don't want there to be any room for mistakes. Be on the ball." Dawn continued.

Faith watched Dawn continue talking about the mission, only half tuned in. She couldn't help it. Her aura just drew her in. Her strength, the way she was bossing even her around... it was driving her damn crazy! She didn't know how she was going to last the next few days let alone the next few weeks. Her insides kept doing flips everytime she found her eyes wandering over Dawn's smooth body. She scowled to herself and tried to concentrate back on what the watcher was saying, but it didn't last long. Dawn looked at her out of the corner of her eye and raised an eyebrow.

Faith squeezed her thighs together and coughed, scratching at her head. Well, at least she'd get to dust some vamps tonight. That's what she needed, some real good action. Too bad Dawn wouldn't be there too, she wouldn't mind some action with her...

"Faith?" Dawn snapped, staring directly at her.

"Yes!" Faith replied quickly, her voice slightly squeaky. The girls around the room giggled quietly.

"I trust you can handle it if that happens?" Dawn asked. Faith looked around quickly, swallowing.

"Yeah... sure thing boss." she replied, faking it out. Dawn raised an eyebrow at her.

"Alright, we're done here. Go get some rest if you need it, have dinner, and make sure all your gear is prepared for tonight." Dawn finished, grabbing the whiteboard eraser and starting to remove the writing.

The girls all filed out of the room, but Faith stayed, standing with her arms crossed against her chest as she watched Dawn. The watcher saw this and turned to her quickly.

"Something wrong?" she asked the raven slayer. Faith looked at the floor and then back up at Dawn, shrugging.

"I dunno, I was just thinking... you make a really great leader you know. B would be proud of you..." she told Dawn, who's face instantly softened.

"Thanks, Faith. That really means a lot to me." she replied, smiling. "Just be careful out there tonight, ok?"

Faith stepped a little closer to the watcher, cupping her cheek softly. "I'll be fine, don't you worry about me. If you like I'll even bring back a souvenir for you." she grinned. Dawn laughed quietly.

"The best souvenir you could give me would be you coming home..." _to me..._

Faith suddenly leant in and pressed her lips softly to Dawn's forehead, causing the girl to blush profusely. She pulled away quickly, mumbling something under her breath and holding a hand to her chest.

"You should go, I have... I have a lot of work to do, a-and so do you so you should go... do it..." Dawn fussed and quickly started gathering up all her papers and stacking them together. Faith gave her a lopsided smile.

"Sure... I'll go... do stuff." Faith chuckled and shook her head, leaving the room and Dawn to her business.

As she left, Dawn pressed her hands against the desk and closed her eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked herself quietly. Why did she keep having these thoughts? Why the hell couldn't she get Faith out of her head? Was... was it just because it had been so long since she'd seen her? Maybe that was it, maybe she was just confusing happiness to see her again with the kind of happiness you feel when you want someone to hold you and never let you go...

Dawn groaned loudly and collapsed into the nearest chair. Why must she be so_ awful _when it comes to emotions?

* * *

><p>Faith was trecking along at the front of the pack as they made their way to the caves. They were crunching accross dried up leaves and spindly grass that covered up a smallish cemetery about a half a mile square adjacent to a cattle grazing paddock.<p>

Faith could hear them talking behind her. She could hear whispers at the back of the group talking about her and Dawn. She kept a straight face and tried to concentrate on keeping her bearings. She could sense the vampires getting closer, although it wasn't strong yet. It was likely the vampires had no clue of their approach and were keeping quiet as they awoke to prepare for feeding time.

"I heard from a friend that Buffy kicked Faith out because she didn't want her near Dawn. They used to date you know!" came one hushed but enthusiastic sentence from someone closer to her. Faith growled under her breath.

How dare they insinuate something like that? From rumours nonetheless? They had no clue. Stupid, immature teenagers.

She wasn't sure if she was angry about the fact that they were talking up rumours about her, or that she was just angry because she never actually had dated Dawn.

She stopped in her tracks. Turning around slightly she held up a hand to stop the group. She took a few steps forward and knelt down, noticing the footprints on the ground. Glancing up ahead she saw the faint glow of what appeared to be the main entrance to the vampires hovel.

Faith stood back up and motioned for everyone to get into their groups of 3.

"Jen, I want your group to stick close to me, we're going in first. The rest of you, don't do anything stupid. Watch each others backs and keep an eye on the entrance." Faith commanded quietly, but they could all hear her. Nodding, they moved forwards.

Faith led her group into the cave, and it was only a short way down before they came accross a group of around 11 vampires who were fighting over a large bull carcass.

"Look what we have here! A party that I wasn't invited to? What a shame... " Faith proclaimed her presence, and the vamps all immediately shot up.

"Slayers! Get them!" Commanded one of the vampires.

"What a way to treat a house guest." Faith said dully, as she and the 2 groups that had followed her in engaged in a furious battle.

Taking down the first 4 vamps had been easy work for Faith. Feeding off animal blood had made them weaker than those that fed off human blood. Her group was struggling slightly, engaging in brute force matches, but finding it difficult to land their stakes in time before the vamps jumped out of their way.

"INCOMING!" Faith heard a girl shout from outside, and watched as another 10 vampires raced into the caves. She could hear the 2 groups still outside engaging in battle with what sounded like at least another 6. Growling under her breath, she shoved a brunette girl out of the way and shouted "MOVE!"

She slipped a hand behind her coat and pulled out an iron cross which had a long, glimmering stake protruding out the long end of it. She flicked her arm quickly and watched the projectile hiss through the air and land in the chest of a vampire that would have easily taken the brunette had it not have been for Faith.

She heard a cry from her left and glanced over to see Tracy getting picked off of her group by a more thick set vampire, and being slammed against the cave wall.

"Tracy!" Jen called out frantically, about to run over and help her, but she was overwhelmed and grabbed by the shirt by another vampire who flung her into several of the girls behind her.

"Fuck!" Faith grunted under her breath, whipping out another stake from her coat and slamming it into the chest of a vampire that had tried to come up behind her, then stalking over to her group and quickly twisting the head off the vampire that was furiously clawing at them.

"PAY FUCKING ATTENTION!" Faith screamed at them, growling as she ran over to pull the heavy set vampire off of Tracy.

"Snacking before the main meal? Your mummy isn't going to be happy." She scolded it as it hissed at her, swiping out and leaving 2 huge gashes accross Faith's left cheek.

Growling, Faith pushed the vamp against a nearby rock and started punching it as hard as she could in the face. It grunted and flung a knee out, landing in Faith's gut, before pushing her to the side. It quickly broke off a stalagmite and with a fanged smile, drove it into Faith's shoulder blade.

With a loud cry, Faith grasped at the smooth rock, trying to remove it. The vamp closed in, and lunged at her, but it's face turned to that of shock with it's face just inches away from hers, before it turned to dust.

Faith grunted as she tried to sit up, waving the dust out of her face. Stupid vampires, they should know better than to drive themselves onto a slayer. She gave her backup stake a quick wipe, before reaching up and wrenching the stalagmite from her shoulder with a loud cry.

There were only a handful of vampires left now, the girls from outside were now rushing inside to help finish off what was left.

With a fire in her eyes, Faith stumbled over and staked every last one of the unsuspecting vampires. She frowned as the job was finished, leaning against the nearest wall and closing her eyes and holding a hand against her shoulder wound, which was oozing a deep red stream of blood.

"Tracy... somebody help her..." Jen suddenly called out in panic, and several of the girls rushed over to where she was slumped against the wall. Bite marks in her neck were evident, and her face was pale.

Jen held out a shaky hand and pressed it to her neck, quickly looking back up at the group.

"She's still alive! We can take her home, she's alive! It's ok!" Her enthusiasm was clouding her judgement of the fact that Tracy was not only close to death from blood loss and probably wouldn't make it home, but also to the fact that she had blood smeared accross her lips. It could have been intentional or an accident from a wounded vampire, but they couldn't be sure.

Faith pushed herself off the wall and made her way through the girls, standing behind Jen.

"We can't take the chance, I'm sorry. She won't be coming back with us." Faith told her with a stern look. Jen looked up at her, suddenly looking angry.

"No...NO! She's OK! It's ... we can help her. I CAN HELP HER!" Jen yelled, tears starting to well up in her eyes.

"She can't be helped now. I'm sorry. This has to be done." Faith readied her stake and kneeled over Tracy's body.

"NO! STOP IT! LEAVE HER ALONE!" Jen yelled, lunging for Faith, but she was quickly restrained by 2 of the stronger girls. One of them slowly nodded to Faith in understanding of what she had to do. Faith shot them a thankful look, and before Jen could protest anymore, the raven slayer had driven her stake through Tracy's chest.

The girl's breathing slowed, and she seemed to gasp, her lips moving but nothing coming out. Her face paled further and her eyelids fluttered, until finally, she no longer drew breath.

With an emotionless expression, Faith violently drew her stake out of the girl's now dead body. She stood up and brushed off her pants, ignoring Jen's violent sobbing and screaming out to her "MONSTER! HOW COULD YOU? They were right, you're nothing but a MONSTER!".

Faith flinched and tensed up her shoulders, suddenly pushing her way past everyone and exiting the caves. She heard a set of footsteps quickly chasing after her.

"Faith! Wait, what do you want us to do with the body?" came a quiet but worried voice. Faith turned around quickly and pointed at the girl.

"You leave the body where it is, and don't do anything with it unless Dawn tells you otherwise, do I make myself clear?" she snapped at the girl, who flinched slightly, but nodded.

_"I understand."_ she replied.

Faith turned on her heel and stormed off. She could still hear Jen sobbing.

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><p>Dawn was in her room reading on the couch, when she heard Faith's door open then close. Her heart leaped into her throat a little. Should she go check on her? No. She should wait. She didn't hear the others yet. She should just wait right here for them to report back to her. Knowing Faith, she had probably made her way home far quicker than the others.<p>

Dawn went back to reading her book. It was about 15 minutes before she heard the sound of the rest of the slayers arriving home.

There was a light tap at her door.

"Come in." she replied, still reading her book.

A taller, atheletic girl with black hair entered.

"Dawn?" the girl announced herself firmly. Dawn smiled up at her from her book.

"Come in Jackie, how did it go?" Dawn asked, waiting as the girl closed the door behind her and came over to stand before her watcher. She looked down.

"We managed to get all of them but..." she frowned slightly, and Dawn noticed a strange sadness in the girl's eyes.

"But what? What happened?" Dawn pressed, suddenly pushing her bookmark into the page she was reading and putting the book to her side. Jackie shifted slightly.

"We lost Tracy. She... she was cornered while we were all engaged. She was bitten and drained of nearly all her blood before Faith could get the vampire off her. She had blood on her face and in her mouth... it didn't look like it was from her own wounds..." The girl continued, growing quieter before biting her lower lip. Dawn frowned.

"What are you saying? Tracy, is she..." Dawn pressed, before Jackie finally continued.

"Faith had to kill her. She knew we couldn't take the risk... I... I understand why it had to be done. But Jen... we had to restrain her. I'm really worried about her." she replied.

Dawn nodded slowly.

"It's ok, Jackie. These things happen. It's part of the risk of being a slayer, we all know that." Dawn told her quietly. Jackie nodded.

"What... what do you wish us to do with her body?" the girl asked, her voice trembling slightly. Dawn stood up and put her hands on the girl's shoulders.

"Get her body brought back here. We'll organize for it to be shipped to the morgue, from there they can organize with Tracy's family the arrangements that need to be made." Dawn told her firmly. Jackie nodded.

"I understand. I'll get a group together tomorrow for it." she replied, and Dawn nodded.

"Now go get some rest, it's been a long night." Dawn smiled lightly, before escorting Jackie out of her room, waving goodnight to her.

As she closed her door, Dawn collapsed onto the back of it, letting out a long breath.

She knew, this stuff happened. It was unfortunate, but it was part of the job. She knew though, that Jen and Tracy had been close. "Roommates". Probably more than that. She could only imagine the pain that Jen would be going through right now, having just lost someone that meant so much to her.

Rolling her head to the side, Dawn thought about how she would feel if she lost Buffy, or Willow, or Faith...

"Faith..." she whispered, inhaling suddenly.

She pulled her door open and made her way quickly down the hallway to Faith's room. She stopped suddenly outside of it, her palms sweating. She knocked lightly on the door. When she got no reply, she turned the handle and entered.

The room was in mostly darkness, except for the TV and the glow of a long cigarette between the strong, calloused fingers of Faith. She was sitting on the couch, seemingly watching the TV in a trance. She was in a pair of blue boxer shorts, and a black t-shirt. Dawn could see what appeared to be white medical bandaging poking out from the hem of the shirt neck.

The watcher slowly closed the door and then walked over to where Faith was still glued to the TV screen.

"Are you ok?" Dawn asked tentatively. No reply. "Faith?"

Faith finally flicked her fingers, ashing her cigarette into the ashtray in front of her. She licked her lips.

"She called me a monster." Faith said quietly, almost too quietly. Dawn frowned.

"What?" she came over and sat down next to Faith. "Who?"

Faith slowly turned her head to face Dawn. "Jen. She called me a monster, for killing Tracy." she turned her head back to the TV and took a long drag of her smoke. Dawn watched her blow out long curds between her lips.

"Faith... you're not a monster. You know as well as I do, that when there is a risk like that, you need to take care of it." Dawn told her, scooting a little closer and laying a hand on the raven slayer's right thigh. Faith's breath hitched in her throat a little bit.

"Maybe she's right. Maybe I am a monster. I don't know... sometimes... " Faith flexed her fingers a little bit. "I still remember what I did... when Buffy stabbed me. It's like I have a permanent reminder of the horrible things I've done."

Dawn squeezed her thigh. "You're not a monster. You've changed, and you know it. I know it."

Faith looked at her again. "How do you know it?" her lips curled into a sarcastic smile. She leant forwards and butted out her smoke. She then turned to Dawn and pressed a hand against her throat. It was meant to be threatening, she was trying to prove a point that she knew she couldn't. Her hand wasn't even tight against the girl's skin, it was loose, she could feel Dawn's pulse underneath the palm of her hand. Throbbing, increasing in speed as her eyes glazed over, looking up into the raven slayer's eyes.

Dawn's head was spinning. She was frightened, but at the same time thrilled. Her bloodstream was rushing with adrenaline, and her skin was prickling at the sensation of being so close to Faith.

As if she had no control over her actions, Dawn reached a hand out and wrapped it around the back of Faith's head, pulling her down to her.

Their lips clashed together fiercely, and Dawn gasped as Faith's hand moved from her neck and slid around behind her, pulling her lower back upwards and closer so that the watcher's body pressed against the slayer's.

Dawn groaned into the kiss as Faith's tongue flicked at her lips, demanding entrance. The watcher complied and parted her lips, allowing the slayer's tongue to press into her mouth. Their tongues met and fought for dominance over the other, sliding and massaging against the other. Faith arched her back and rolled her body so that she was straddling Dawn's body.

Her hand were shaking as they ran up and down Dawn's smooth sides, before sliding up to her shoulders and pushing her harder into the couch while she consumed the younger girl's mouth.

Dawn was trembling. This was insane... her body was reacting to Faith's touch in ways she never knew existed. It felt like every part of her was on fire, like she would die if she kept going, and like she would die if she stopped.

Faith moaned and slid her lips along Dawn's cheek, down to her neck where she bit at the tender flesh between her teeth, nipping and licking before finally wrapping her mouth around it and sucking gently.

Dawn gasped, closing her eyes, unaware that her hips were rocking.

_"Faith..."_ she whispered, barely able to breath, as she felt the raven slayer's hand start to trail down her chest, down her abdomen, and finally coming to a rest between her thighs. Dawn whimpered and bit her lower lip as Faith pressed her fingers into her through her jeans.

Suddenly, the watcher cried out and pushed Faith off her, holding her hands to her mouth and trembling. Faith looked confused. Her face, neck, and chest were flushed a bright red and she was breathing hard.

"I'm sorry... I... I haven't..." Dawn sputtered, embrassed about what she was trying to put through in words. Oh god, what would Faith think of her? This was awful. Why couldn't she just spit it out? Why did Faith have to look at her like that? Why did she have to be devouring her with just a look?

"Dawn, I'm sorry, I didn't hurt you did I?" Faith asked bashfully, leaning forwards a little and touching her fingers to the red hickey that stood out on the watcher's pale skin. Dawn shook her head hard.

"Then what is it? Is it my breath?" Faith frowned, cupping a hand around her mouth and breathing out, sniffing it. Dawn laughed lightly, still incredibly nervous.

"No no... it's not you. You're great, that was... oh god I've never... felt... this is so new to me I..." Dawn stumbled over her words, running a hand through her hair, getting flustered. Faith continue to frown, trying to understand what the girl was trying to tell her. Suddenly, she realized.

Her mouth parted and her eyebrows raised. "Oh...oh...OH Dawnie! Fuck, you... you're a virgin?" she asked, her voice coming out louder than she'd wanted to.

Dawn groaned and stood up, racing for the door. She reached the knob and had just started to open it when a firm hand pushed it shut, and a body pressed against her back.

"Don't leave. I'm sorry... I didn't know!" Faith begged her, her lips coming far too close to Dawn's ear, her breath sending a shiver down the girl's spine.

"Faith... it's not your fault. I should have said something before... I feel so stupid." she turned around, now facing the slayer who looked into her eyes as if she was reaching in and touching her soul.

"I can wait!" Faith suddenly sputtered out, not realizing she'd said it until she actually heard it out loud. What? Since when the hell had she ever waited for anyone?

Dawn looked at her quizically.

"I just... I really like you Dawnie. I've always liked you. I don't know why I've been blind to it for so long... I just don't want to ruin anything. I don't want to ruin you..." Faith continued, cupping her cheek and running her thumb accross the watcher's lips. Dawn smiled and pressed a kiss to her thumb.

"You won't ruin me. I just need... I need to take it slow. I need time to think this over, ok?" Dawn replied, and watched as Faith nodded in understanding.

Dawn leaned up and pressed a kiss slowly to Faith's lips, letting them linger for a while before finally pulling away.

"I need to get some rest, and so do you." Dawn told her firmly. Faith pouted.

"Ok. Can we have breakfast together in the morning?" Faith resigned to the fact that Dawn had to leave her for tonight. Dawn laughed.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world." she replied, leaning up and pressing another kiss, this time to Faith's cheek. The slayer blushed slightly, then leaning back and allowing Dawn to open the door.

"Goodnight, Faith." Dawn whispered at the doorway. Faith smiled.

"Goodnight Dawnie. Don't let the bed bugs bite." She replied. Dawn grinned, and with that she left to her room. Faith closed the door.

She sighed to herself, wandering over to where her cigarettes were on the coffee table. She pulled one out and lit it.

Her head was still spinning with images of Dawn pressed up against her, her lips against hers. Their bodies rocking and thrusting together...

She shuddered. She had to be good. These feelings she had for the girl were something she hadn't felt in a long time. It had caught her off guard, to say the very least.

She decided right there and then, that until her and Dawn could be together, she would refrain from pleasuring herself. She didn't know how long it might take, weeks, maybe it might even take several months or more... but surely, it would be worth it?

"I'm going to lose my mind." she groaned to herself, flopping onto the couch.

Despite not feeling that tired, she eventually fell asleep, dreaming of holding Dawn in her arms.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, all the characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Feedback: Much appreciated. As always, email me at .

Pairing: Dawn/Faith

Warning: This story contains love scenes between two females, so if you're offended by female/female relationships or just plain don't want to read sex scenes, then I suggest you get the fudge out. :-)

Plot: It's 3 years after defeating the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. Dawn has been living in Britain to train as a Watcher, when a new arrival and an old friend make a surprise visit.

A/N: Isn't Faith just the most adorable thing when she's wooing a lady? Prepare yourself for fluff, and maybe a little sexy times.

* * *

><p>Dawn was feeling unusually happy this morning on awaking. The sun was shining brightly, the birds were chirping, and there was an unusual calm washing over her body.<p>

She groaned contentedly and stretched out her body under the bed sheets before throwing them back and pushing herself out of bed. Yawning loudly, she stood and sauntered over to the bathroom. It was still early by her clock, so she decided to treat herself to a nice, relaxing jacuzzi.

Filling it up with warm water, she went into her bathroom cabinet and pulled out a lavender bath bomb. Lifting it to her nostrils and inhaling the relaxing scent, she smiled and plopped it into the water, watching it hiss and froth up the water.

Stripping off her pyjamas, she tested the water with her big toe, dipping it in, before she slowly stepped in and lowered herself into the water. She sighed contentedly as the warm bubbly water surrounded her. She reached over and turned the jet streams onto low, laying back and closing her eyes.

The last several days had been interesting, to say the very least. It had all started with an offer from Faith...

* * *

><p>Dawn was watching as Faith sparred with Brianna. The girls were trying really hard since the incident with Tracy, training longer and harder hours. Jen especially had been incredibly focussed, approaching all her training with a renewed vengeance.<p>

Dawn smiled as she watched Faith move low to dodge a high swing, then wrapping her arms around Brianna's waist and tackling her to the ground. The girl groaned and wiped her brow as Faith grinned at her, then standing and giving her a helping hand up.

"Good job kiddo, just remember to be wary of counter attacks, never leave your midsection open." Faith told her, giving her a slap on the arm and a lopsided smile. Brianna nodded appreciatively and began sparring with the girl that replaced Faith as the raven slayer took a break.

Faith sauntered over to where Dawn was sitting, plopping herself next to her and taking a long swig from her bottle of water which had been left by Dawn's feet.

"Nice moves." Dawn complimented her, crossing her arms over her chest. Faith chuckled.

"I've got a few moves you haven't seen yet." Faith teased her, watching as the Watcher's face blushed lightly.

"You'll have to show me some time..." Dawn replied quietly, trying to hide her embarrassment. Faith leant back lazily, drinking more of her water.

"Maybe I will. Maybe... although I'd kind of like to wine and dine you first." Faith replied, looking sideways at the Watcher. Dawn looked at her questioningly.

"Faith, are you asking me out on a date?" Dawn asked her, a slight teasing tone in her voice. Faith shrugged her shoulders lightly and leant forwards, resting her elbows on her knees.

"I dunno. Maybe. Wouldn't you like to get out of here some time, maybe have dinner or something?" the raven slayer looked at her, her eyes showing slight doubt in herself. She didn't exactly have the greatest skills when it came to wooing people. Usually for her, wooing someone involved several drinks and then taking clothes off. It had to be different with Dawn. The girl was special.

Dawn smiled brightly. "You ARE asking me out on a date, aren't you? Awwww, isn't that just the sweetest!" Dawn teased her further, wrapping her arms around the slayer's shoulders. Faith coughed slightly and stuttered as she tried to find a reply.

"Yeah, well... someone's gotta have some fun around here, and with our next vampire culling not until tomorrow night, I'm a little on edge." Faith replied, giving an awkward smile and trying to ignore how a couple of the girl's were eyeing off her and Dawn being so close together.

"I would love it if you took me to dinner." Dawn told her kindly, giving her a small peck on the temple as she withdrew her hands from around the strong slayer. Faith blushed and laughed. She tried to ignore all the fuzzy feelings she was having inside of her right now.

She'd just asked Dawn on a date. It was official. Their very first date. But... she was so hopeless, what if she screwed it up? Maybe she should buy her roses... or daffodils... hell what do girls like? Maybe she should just get her some chocolates or something. Or a teddy bear... girls loved stuffed animals. Her mind raced and she looked up to see Dawn looking at her, amused.

"Ok, cool. That's uh... awesome so... how does about 7o'clock sound to you?" Faith asked her, trying to act as if she had any clue what she was talking about. Dawn smiled.

"Sounds good to me. Meet me at my room at 7, get back to training for now. I've gotta go upstairs and finish some paperwork." Dawn told her happily, standing up and pressing another small kiss to Faith's forehead as she was about to leave.

"Ok." Faith replied simply, trying not to get herself too worked up over even the smallest bit of affection.

As she watched Dawn leave the sparring room, she took another swig of water. Her mind was so busy going over what she would do for tonight, that she didn't see the girl that came charging towards her and pushed her backwards, off the bench.

Faith tumbled onto the ground, hissing as her left elbow hit the hard floor, and looked up at the angry form of Jen.

"Jen... Jesus, what the fuck?" Faith asked angrily, pushing herself up and brushing herself off. Jen scowled at her, then reaching out and grabbing her by the shirt and pulling her forwards, throwing her at the training mats. Faith kept her balance, moving into a defensive stance and lowering her eyebrows at the girl.

"Jen... calm down. Whatever it is, fighting me isn't going to solve it. I promise you." Faith warned her, but Jen just scoffed, moving up until her face was only centimetres away from the raven slayer's.

"I disagree. I bet if I put you on your arse and beat you down, it will solve a lot of what I'm feeling right now." Jen threatened her, shoving her hands roughly against Faith's shoulders. Faith grunted, her shoulder was still slightly tender from the incident the other night.

"I'm not going to fight you." Faith told her quietly, preparing herself for what she expected. She could see the pain and anger in the girl's eyes, and she knew there was no way she could avoid a fight, despite her words.

"What's the matter, you afraid I might take you down? Like you did to Tracy?" Jen spat out at her. Faith flinched. Those words hurt her deeply. She never wanted to do it... but it was something that had to be done. If sacrificing one life guaranteed the safety of everyone else, then she would gladly do it.

"You can't change what happened." Faith told her, but before there was a chance for any more words, the girl lunged at her in a flurry of fists.

She cringed as an elbow hit her in her breastbone, followed by Jen grabbing her by the hair and flinging her to the ground.

"Faith!" Brianna called out from where everyone had stopped their training, and were now watching worriedly. They wanted to help Faith, but at the same time they didn't want to interfere and bring the wrath of their Watcher upon them for getting involved.

Faith turned her head slightly. "Stay back, all of you." she warned, getting to her feet quickly and dodging more hits to the side. She planted a foot in Jen's back and sent her flying several feet. The girl cried out loudly, struggling back to her feet and running back at Faith.

The raven slayer threw a quick side jab, hitting Jen in the jaw. Unbalanced, Jen stumbled and wasn't able to dodge the fist that connected with her nose. She cried out, blood starting to trickle out of her nostrils.

Faith grabbed her by the shirt, lifting her up then throwing her hard to the ground. She leant down and pressed a knee to the girls shirt.

"Stop it, Jen! Fighting me isn't going to solve anything!" she yelled at her. Jen spat her blood into the slayer's face, taking her by surprise. Faith lifted a hand to her face and wiped the blood off.

Standing, disgusted, she looked over at Brianna and her friend.

"Take her to get cleaned up. I'm done here." Faith ordered them, wiping at her face again, then storming out of the room.

* * *

><p>Faith decided she wasn't going to report the incident. The last thing she wanted to do was out Jen, and get her in trouble, giving her even more reason to hate her guts. The girl was still young, and didn't have the understanding that Faith did about dealing with vamps. Sure, she'd probably be pissed off at her for a while, and Faith could take it. But it's not like she'd do anything rash. She was just angry and confused. Faith had been like that once too.<p>

She cringed at that thought. 'Yeah and look what happened to you...' she pushed those thoughts away. No. Don't go there. That's not going to happen to Jen. She has a good life here and is very lucky. She has great tutors and heaps of friends. Just give her a few weeks to calm down.

She had gone for a walk into town to try and find a gift for Dawn. So far, she was more confused about what to get her now than she had been before. There was so much... she couldn't decide.

She scratched her head as she browsed a large selection of bouquets.

"Can I help you?" Came the kind voice of an older lady with grey hair, sparkling hazel eyes and a lovely smile. Faith laughed slightly.

"Hi uh... I um... I don't know what to get her." Faith spluttered, before she realised that this woman clearly had no idea who she was talking about. Faith shook her head nervously.

"My um. I... I'm going on a date tonight. I don't know what I should get for them..." Faith continued, and the lady smiled at her warmly in understanding.

"Oh how sweet. Well, I would highly recommend a medium sized bouquet for a first date. Something like this." she picked up one that had lavenders, a few daisies and sprigs of green stuff, and some other flowers that Faith had no clue what they were.

"Sure I'll take it. What else should I get?" Faith replied, looking at the lady very seriously. The older lady giggled sweetly.

"My my, someone's trying to make a good impression aren't they. Well, perhaps you should just gift wrap yourself!" The old lady laughed cutely at her own joke. Faith knitted her brow. What... since when did old ladies stop being prudes? What a dirty old bat!

"Heh, I uh, don't think that would work at a public restaurant." Faith replied, trying to hide her slight embarrassment. The lady nodded and moved over to another shelf.

"Why not get her some scented bath accessories? Something so she can soothe herself and relax. Perhaps you could even enjoy it too." The lady gave her a cheeky smile.

Oh... god. Make it stop. Faith nodded quickly, accepting the little gift pack of bath bombs, soap and some little hand towels.

She paid for her stuff, then got out of there as quickly as possible. She shuddered. There was nothing right about anything that had come out of that woman's mouth in there.

Walking briskly, she stopped as she saw another shop with adorable little teddies and plush tigers and puppies in it. Unable to resist the wave of cuteness that was pulling her in, she went into the shop and started looking through all the selections.

It was so hard to decide... there was so many cute soft toys. She thought maybe she should just buy them all and be done with it! That's when she spotted the most adorable little teddy she'd ever seen. It was a pale cinnamon brown, with big brown eyes and black tips on it's ears. It had big, squishy black paws, and when she picked it up to feel it... oh my god, it was so soft!

Faith had to stop herself before she started rubbing the softness of it against her face.

She quickly went over to the counter and bought it. There was just no way she would be going home without this bear for Dawn.

* * *

><p>Dawn was finishing getting ready in her room. She was applying the finishing touches to her eye shadow, making sure her eyes gave that sexy, suggestive look, and her hair was tied back while letting a few strips hang over her eyes.<p>

She was wearing a pair of black high heels and a very slinky, matt black dress that came down to about ¾ down her thigh. It had thicker straps that had little wavy fringes along the hems. It showed a little cleavage, but not too much.

There was no words to describe how nervous she was. This was practically the first proper date she'd had in years. She felt clueless as to what she was going to say or do. Was it normal to feel like this? To feel like there was a horde of butterflies living inside her guts, and like if she took one wrong step, she might just fall off the edge of the world?

Just as she finished applying her foundation, she heard a knock at her door. She rushed to get it, nearly tripping over in the process over her own feet. She reached the doorknob and turned it, to be greeted with the sight of the most beautiful woman she'd ever seen.

Faith had straightened her hair and tied it back into a ponytail. She was wearing a long sleeved, form fitting button up blouse. It was white, and Dawn could just barely make out the outline of a bra underneath it. Under that the slayer was wearing boot cut, tight fitting black pants. Not her usual leather, but just as flattering. She was however, wearing her usual boots.

Faith's face was bright red, and she shuffled slightly from side to side, before she whipped her hands out from behind her back and presented Dawn with the bouquet of flowers, the teddy bear and bath goods all at once.

"I got these for you I hope you like it..." Faith spat out, waiting as Dawn reached out and accepted the gifts.

"Ohh... you shouldn't have. Oh Faith, they're beautiful." Dawn sniffed the flowers, and inspected the teddy and the bath stuff. "Come in, I'll find a vase for these."

Faith stepped in carefully, shutting the door behind her. She watched as Dawn went into one of her cupboards and pulled out a frosted purple glass vase. She filled it with water, unwrapping the flowers and placing them in carefully. Smiling over at Faith, she picked up the teddy bear and stroked it.

"This... this is adorable." She giggled, waiting as Faith came over to her and tickled the teddy's fur a little.

"I thought you might like it. He'll keep you warm at nights." Faith told her sheepishly. The Watcher grinned brightly and leant up, capturing the slayer's lips in a warm, delicious kiss. Faith's head spun a little, and she ran a hand down Dawn's side, stroking her hip slightly.

As their kiss broke, she took in the whole sight of the woman before her. She bit her lip in order to hold back an animalistic groan.

"You look... good enough to eat." Faith told her, her eyes sparkling. Dawn blushed and tucked a strand of loose hair behind her ears.

"Thanks. I... I honestly didn't think I'd ever get to dress up for a date like this." she replied with a smile. Faith grinned.

"Neither did I." she told Dawn simply, leaning down again and capturing her lips for yet another kiss. The younger woman moaned into the kiss, lavishing in the feeling that it was stirring within her.

She finally managed to find the strength to break the kiss.

"Ok um... so where are we going for dinner?" she asked quickly, before Faith had a chance to distract her even further. At the rate they were going, they were never going to leave...

"I saw this really nice place just a few blocks away. Not too posh, but looks like it might be nice and romantic..." Faith began, hoping that her choice in dining was fit for her girl. Dawn smiled and linked her hand with the slayer's.

"Lead the way." she replied cheekily.

* * *

><p>Dawn was over the moon. So far, the dinner date had gone really well. They had chatted about everything and anything, from all the adventures Faith had gotten up to while Dawn had been here training, most stories either eliciting laughter or shocked looks. While most of Dawn's stories were a lot more tame and less action, Faith listened intently and didn't miss a single word of what the girl said.<p>

They thanked the waiter as their dessert arrived.

"Oh god... I love chocolate mousse." Dawn drooled over her plate, instantly digging into her delicious dessert.

Faith watched, licking her lips, as Dawn took the strawberry that topped her mousse. She lifted it to her lips and slowly sucked all the chocolate mousse off it, making sure she got the tip of her tongue into every little bump. She made a moan as she bit into the strawberry and tasted the sweet juices.

Faith made a tiny little whimper as she watched. Dawn noticed this and grinned deviously. She bit into the strawberry again, this time letting a little bit of the juice dribble down her chin.

"Oops... how clumsy..." she said teasingly, scooping up the juice onto her finger and then sticking it between her lips, slowly licking it clean.

At this point in time, Faith had almost melted off of her chair. Her face was bright red, and it appeared as though the lights were on but no one was home. Dawn smiled.

"Are you ok, Faith?" she asked, waiting as the raven slayer slowly nodded.

"Yes... I'm... great." Faith finally managed to reply, before shaking her head and looking down at her own dessert. She had ordered triple chocolate ice-cream, and it was starting to melt slightly in it's bowl. She frowned at her food, before coming to the realisation that she could use it to her advantage, to get back at Dawn.

As Dawn was happily eating her mousse, quite pleased with the reaction she'd had on Faith, she looked over to see the raven slayer take a large spoonful of ice-cream.

Faith slowly placed the spoon into her mouth, sucking the spoon completely clean as she pulled it out, moaning at the taste of the ice-cream. She got another spoonful, this time to slowly lick at it and play with the drips as they tried to release themselves from the spoon.

Dawn's mouth was slightly open, and this time her cheeks were bright red. Faith grinned.

"What's the matter baby?" she asked cheekily, dipping a finger into the ice-cream then slowly licking it off. Dawn swallowed hard.

"You know I think... I'm ready to go home. What about you?" she asked quickly, squeezing her thighs together. Faith smiled devilishly.

"I think that sounds like a great idea." she replied.

* * *

><p>Dawn's door burst open, and the two figures, melded together, practically fell into the room.<p>

Faith kicked the door shut behind her and continued kissing Dawn roughly as she slowly moved them both towards the bed. Some how, Faith managed to pull her boots off with her feet as she continued to lead Dawn backwards.

Dawn gasped slightly as the back of her knees hit the mattress and her body fell backwards onto the bed sheets. Faith grinned down at her lecherously as she pulled her shirt slowly over her head, making sure to expose every one of her flexing abdominal muscles as she did so. She stood there for only a moment, letting Dawn's eyes explore her flesh before she slowly lowered herself down on top of the woman.

She captured the Watcher's lips in a fiery kiss, their tongues wrestling against each others, their breaths mingling as Dawn slowly moved backwards on the bed sheets a little more, her body begging for Faith to follow her.

As the slayer slowly pulled her lips away, she looked deeply into Dawn's eyes as her fingers started tracing up the girls right thigh, gently pushing the fabric of her dress up to reach more silky flesh. Dawn's mouth and eyes were burning into Faith's, begging her to keep going.

The fingers kept pushing the fabric up further and further, stopping just before Dawn's panty line. Faith grinned and pulled her hand away, causing the younger woman to let out a pained groan. The slayer moved her body on top of Dawn's, pressing a finger to her lips.

"Shh..." she whispered, moving her own fingers to the buttons on her pants and slowly undoing them. Dawn bit her lip before leaning up to capture Faith's lips in a searing kiss. Faith moaned, letting the girl kiss her for a few seconds before pulling away, reaching down and sliding her pants off her legs.

She leant back down and pressed her lips to Dawn's neck, her fingers pushing the girl's dress all the way up to her hips. She smiled down at her as she slowly started to rock her crotch against Dawn's.

"_Faith..." _Dawn whispered, her face flushed as the heat and pressure of the slayer's loins against hers, only separated by fabric, caused waves of insane amounts of pleasure to course through her body.

"_Dawnie..." _Faith whispered back, her breath hitching in her throat from the intensity.

Dawn suddenly shot up, much to the slayer's shock, but before she could protest, she watched as Dawn slowly slid her dress up and over her head. Faith watched the girl with a sly smile as she moved up on the bed, leaning against her pillows and running her fingers over her panty clad crotch.

Faith licked her lips as Dawn slowly hooked a finger underneath the elastic and pulled it to the side to give her slayer a good view. Faith nearly exploded right there and then. She lunged at Dawn, covering her mouth with renewed force, kissing her hard and deep.

Dawn groaned loudly as Faith's fingers quickly slid down her body to her loins, slowly stroking her through the fabric. After a few moments of that, the slayer slid her fingers inside the underwear and quickly found Dawn's clit, stroking it in a circular motion.

"Mmmm Dawnie... god you're so wet..." Faith gasped into the girl's mouth, breathing hard as her calloused fingers slipped over the tender, swollen bud. Dawn's heart was racing and she could barely find the words to reply to her.

"F- Faith...pl..please..." she tried to beg her, but couldn't form a sentence. Faith grinned, pulling her face back to inspect the deeply flushed and turned on face of Dawn.

"What is it baby? What do you want?" Faith teased her quietly, slowing down the strokes on Dawn's loins. Dawn's lips parted and she let out a whimper.

"Please... I want... inside... I need..." Dawn begged her, her voice coming out in barely a whisper. Faith moaned and pressed a kiss to her lips.

"You want me inside? Is that what you want?" Faith asked her teasingly and seductively, gently sliding her fingers down the girl's wet slit. Dawn gasped and nodded.

Faith knew that if they did this now, she wouldn't be able to take it back. She was about to take Dawn's virginity... it was a huge deal for both of them. They had had a great night, there was no doubt about it. Hell, it was near perfect. But with this happening so fast, Faith knew she had to slow down. She had to make it last. Most of all, when it finally did happen, she wanted the night to be absolutely spectacular. She wanted it to be perfect.

Faith's breath caught in her throat, and she leant down and pressed a gentle kiss against Dawn's lips, before slowly lowering herself beside her. She trailed her fingers up to the girl's chest. Dawn looked confused.

"Faith?" she asked, trying to catch her breath. Faith looked down slightly, taking a deep breath before pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"Don't get me wrong, I really... really... want you right now. But..." she began explaining, watching as Dawn sat up a little bit, biting her lip. The slayer ran her fingers over Dawn's soft abdomen.

"I want to wait. I want it to be perfect when it happens. Y'know? Losing your virginity... it's a big deal. If you were anyone else, I probably wouldn't care. But you're not anyone else, you're Dawn. You're different. You deserve to be treated right." Faith continued, slowly resting her head on Dawn's shoulder. The younger woman looked down at her kindly, running her fingers through her hair.

"It's ok. I just got so caught up in the moment... all I could think about was how amazing you would feel inside me." Dawn shivered a little and ran a finger down Faith's neck. The slayer looked up at her with her brows lowered.

"Now see that kind of talk... that dirty, sexy talk... is not going to help the situation at all." Faith told her very sternly, but she licked her lips at the thought of it. Dawn giggled.

"I'm sorry." she teased, suddenly reaching down to grab the bedsheets and pulling them over the both of them. Faith moaned contentedly and rolled onto her back, waiting for Dawn to cuddle up to her side and rest her head on her collarbone before wrapping her arm around her.

"You should probably get some rest for tomorrow anyway... will you stay with me the night?" Dawn asked quietly as she yawned and snuggled up closer. Faith smiled.

"Of course I will." she replied, pressing a kiss to the girl's forehead.

It didn't take long before they both fell into a deep slumber.

* * *

><p>Faith didn't like the fact that the group she was taking out for the culling was only 4 strong, not including herself. Dawn had reassured them that it was only a small group, and that with the strongest of the girls, it wouldn't take much work to finish them all off. Jen was among them.<p>

The girl had distanced herself from the group the whole way there, not speaking a word. Faith had felt her eyes burning into the back of her skull all night. It made her slightly uncomfortable.

Brianna was walking slightly behind and to the left of Faith, trying to keep in step with her. She could feel the uncomfortableness between Jen and their leader. She wanted to say something, but she figured it should wait until Jen wasn't in earshot. She'd been watching her friend change day by day ever since the incident with Tracy, and it disturbed her to say the least.

She was becoming more and more closed off from social contact, and all she seemed to care about was training and working out in the gym. She wondered if she should say something about how Jen had been disappearing during the night and not coming home until early morning, but she didn't want to admit that she was afraid to tell anyone.

"So, you and Dawn..." Brianna tried to strike up a conversation with the raven slayer. Faith smiled slightly, but didn't look at the girl.

"Yeah." she replied cryptically. Brianna blushed and stuttered a few times before she could reply.

"Are you two... are you together?" she asked quickly. Faith slowly looked around at her, before grinning and winking.

Brianna looked at the ground bashfully. She was naturally a very shy girl, but something about the strong slayer beside her gave her confidence and made her feel stronger as well.

She turned around momentarily and noticed that Jen was glaring at her. She spun back around and swallowed.

"Does she scare you?" Faith asked flatly without looking at her as she approached a large fallen tree trunk, pulling her body over it. Brianna followed suit.

"Um... lately... sometimes." she replied under her breath. Faith nodded in reply.

The rest of the girls followed them, slipping quietly over the tree trunk.

"We're nearly there." She announced loud enough that the group could hear her. She could hear the vampires feeding in the distance, she could smell their foul scent.

Just as they reached the peak of a small hill and spotted the group of about 8 vampires in the distance, she heard a loud shout from behind the group, and before she knew it Jen was racing down by herself towards the vamps.

"Jen! Fuck." Faith shouted out, but got no reaction from her "Come on!" she motioned for everyone to follow her down, and they raced to the aid of the bull headed slayer.

Jen was madly swinging at all of the creatures, not even bothering to get her stake out. She had nearly been overwhelmed already and was pressed up against a tree as one of the vampires swiped at her and tried to bite wherever possible.

Faith and the other girls quickly dealt with what they could while a 2nd vampire rushed over to Jen and tackled her to the ground, pinning her. She struggled to get it off her, but when she realised it was too strong, she instead tried to reach for her stake.

She nearly had it in her fingertips, when the vampire suddenly turned to dust before her, and she was met with Faith standing over her.

"What the fuck is your problem? You could have gotten yourself killed!" Faith yelled at her. Jen wiped at her jacket, trying to remove the dust that was there.

"I had it under control." she growled back. Faith scoffed.

"Is that why I had to save your ass?" Faith snapped back. She held out a hand to help the girl up, but it was slapped away.

"I don't NEED your help!" Jen spat back, pushing herself up off the ground. She glared at Faith for several seconds, before turning her eyes to the rest of the girls.

"What the fuck are you all looking at?" she growled, suddenly storming off.

"Jen! Where are you going?" Faith yelled after her, her eyes glinting with anger and frustration.

"Wherever the fuck I want!" the girl called back.

Faith clenched her fists, but relaxed them a little as she felt a hand on her shoulder.

"Leave her. Let's just get back to HQ. Dawn needs to know..." a firm voice from one of the other girls. Faith nodded slightly, then resigned to the fact that Jen probably wasn't going to come home tonight.

"Come on, let's head home." Faith spoke quietly, and began leading everyone back in silence.

* * *

><p>"She did what?" Dawn asked Brianna to repeat herself. The girl shook her head and couldn't find the strength to continue speaking about her friend. Faith stepped forward.<p>

"I'll tell you what she did. She ran into a whole damn nest of vampires, COULD have gotten herself killed, then she took off afterwards. We're meant to be a team, I'm meant to be a leader. Not a fucking babysitter!" Faith raised her voice slightly, ticked off at the whole situation.

"Faith, please, calm down." Giles' voice came across from the other end of the phone, which was on speaker so the whole room could hear him. "She obviously has been through a lot of trauma recently. She's young, you know you were young like her once too Faith. Perhaps you're forgetting that?"

Faith laughed quietly and rolled her eyes. "Please, Giles, don't lecture me. There is a difference between someone being murdered and someone being killed so that they don't murder the rest of us. You've taught us all that."

"Faith is right. The way Jen has been acting lately isn't just about mourning, there's something else there. There's this anger under the surface. I'm not the only one she's scared lately... " Brianna finally found the strength to lend words to the conversation.

Giles sighed on the other end of the line, while Dawn swapped worried looks between Faith and the rest of the girls.

"Giles, maybe we should transfer her to you. You've got a good way with words, maybe if she trains under you for some time she can get over this." Dawn added.

"Perhaps you're right. I know you have a lot on your plate right now Dawn, I don't want to put any more stress onto you with your speech coming up soon." Giles agreed, in a very caring tone.

"Thank you Giles, it's much appreciated." Dawn replied with a smile, although the older man couldn't see it.

"I'll arrange everything, and get back to you when it's sorted. Take care Dawn, Faith." Giles replied.

"You too, Giles." Dawn said quickly, leaning over and hanging up the call.

"If that kid doesn't come back by tomorrow, I will hunt her down and drag her back here myself." Faith stated threateningly, her arms crossed over her chest. Dawn looked hurt by her statement.

"Faith, we can't treat her like a runaway animal." Dawn scolded her. Faith threw her arms up in the air.

"Are you forgetting she's a slayer, Dawn? She IS a runaway animal. Do you remember what I did once?" Faith came up closer to her, her eyes wavering slightly. Dawn touched her arm gently.

"Yes, Faith, I do." she replied. Faith frowned and shook her head.

"I wish someone had have chained me up like a rabid animal a long time ago, before I ever got a chance to cause the hurt that I did." she told her darkly. Dawn shook her head as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing, didn't want to believe.

"Um, we should probably go." Brianna said quietly, shuffling from side to side.

"You're excused, girls." Dawn said kindly, waving to them as they filed out of the room. Dawn went over and shut the door behind her, leaning against it momentarily and sighing deeply.

"I'm sorry. I just don't want to see myself in her..." Faith told Dawn, her expression pained. Dawn looked at her apologetically, walking over to her and taking her face in her hands.

"Don't." Dawn hushed her, pressing her lips to Faith's tenderly.

The raven slayer's head reeled slightly, her lips parting to accommodate for Dawn's tongue gently tasting her. When the kiss was over, they rested their foreheads against each others.

There was a lot to do, they both knew that, but for now... they just wanted to be close to each other, and find comfort in each other's arms.

* * *

><p>Dawn lifted her head as suddenly the water in her jacuzzi splashed unexpectedly. Her mouth opened in horror, and she quickly fumbled around for a bar of soap to defend herself with.<p>

She heard laughter.

"Sorry, didn't scare you too badly did I?" came the cheeky voice of Faith. Dawn turned around to see the beautiful woman behind her and kneeling beside the tub. Dawn frowned and splashed her back.

"Ass." Dawn told her triumphantly, and watched as the naked woman slowly lowered herself into the jacuzzi between Dawn's legs, leaning back against her.

"Thought you might like some company. Besides, how could I resist a wet, slippery woman?" Faith teased, watching as the younger girl reached over and pinched her right nipple. "OW!" she cried. Dawn laughed.

"How could I resist such perky nipples?" she gloated to the now pouting slayer.

They relaxed into each other, and were in a comfortable silence for quite some time before Faith spoke.

"How do you think Jen's gonna react to the news that we're shipping her to America?"

Dawn pondered over it in her head for a while before replying.

"I don't know. I hope it all works out... it's for her own good."

Faith nodded slowly. "Yeah it is. I just wish she didn't blame me for what happened."

Dawn wrapped her arms tightly around her slayer.

"Don't beat yourself up about it, everything is going to be just fine." the Watcher comforted her. Faith smiled and leant her head back to kiss her softly.

"I hope you're right baby." she replied, relaxing back into her and enjoying the alone time with this wonderful woman.

The best thing they could just do right now, was wait.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, all the characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Feedback: Much appreciated. As always, email me at .

Pairing: Dawn/Faith

Warning: This story contains love scenes between two females, so if you're offended by female/female relationships or just plain don't want to read sex scenes, then I suggest you get the fudge out. :-)

Plot: It's 3 years after defeating the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. Dawn has been living in Britain to train as a Watcher, when a new arrival and an old friend make a surprise visit.

**Note: My artist girlfriend has been working on some Dawn x Faith fan art, especially for me and the fans of my fiction! If you would like to check it out, please check my profile page and visit the link there ^_^**

* * *

><p>"No! You can't do that to me, it's not fair!" Jen shouted at her Watcher, her eyes starting to well up in tears. Dawn looked at her sympathetically, but she held her position firm, arms crossed over her chest.<p>

"Jen, you have to understand, Giles is a great man... he can give you much better training than I can, and he can help you through all of the things you're feeling right now. With everything going on, trying my best to run this place, I can't give you all the help you need." Dawn replied apologetically, stepping forward and reaching a hand out to place it on Jen's arm. The girl slapped her hand away.

"Don't! I trusted you, Dawn. I was ripped away from my family for this, I never asked for ANY of it! Now you're going to send me all the way to America, just because you can't handle me?" Jen spat out, tears falling freely from her eyes.

The girl had finally returned in the early hours of the morning, 2 days after she had ran off while slaying a nest of vampires with Faith and several other girls.

Some of them had speculated that perhaps Jen wouldn't return at all. But she did at last. Smelling of dirt, dust, sweat, blood and tears. The stench alone had awoken Faith from slumber, her slayer senses immediately kicking into first gear.

She had eased herself out of bed, putting on pants and a shirt, and tiptoed out to investigate.

Following the smell and the sound of faint clattering coming from downstairs, Faith made her way down to the cafeteria in almost pitch black. Fumbling around for a light switch, she stopped when she noticed there was a faint glow coming from behind the cafeteria counters, back where the kitchen and food supplies were.

Shuffling through the cafeteria past tables and chairs, the raven slayer had opened the side door and entered the kitchen behind it. She saw that the largest refrigerator was open, that explained the glow. Bathed in the light of it sat Jen, shovelling her face with leftover roast chicken and a bowl of fruit salad.

Faith smirked inwardly. Of course, it figured the slayer's appetite would bring the kid back here. In fact, Faith knew that when everything else was going to absolute shit, food was almost always a slayer's best friend.

Jen suddenly looked up from her food and noticed Faith standing there and watching her. She glared at her, and pulled the food to herself closer, protecting it from any competition she might have for it.

"What do you want?" Jen asked her in a threatening tone. It was obvious at the time being the girl was tired and worn down, the fight currently drained from her.

Faith swaggered over and leant against the wall on the opposite side of the fridge, watching Jen carefully.

"I did want some of that fruit salad, but since it's already taken, I'll settle for talking." Faith replied coolly. Jen lowered her eyebrows, then looking at her food and taking more handfuls.

"I don't want to talk." Jen replied coldly. Faith frowned, lowering her body down, her legs bent at the knees and her back resting against the wall.

"Well, maybe you have to talk. Maybe if you don't talk, and you keep bottling it up instead of talking like an adult, things are just going to go to shit. And then you'll be REALLY sorry that you didn't." Faith replied, very matter of factly, smiling wanly at the girl. Jen laughed.

"Everything is already shit. What do I care?" Jen told her sarcastically.

Faith's heart stung in her chest momentarily. She had to keep reminding herself that this wasn't a mirror reflection of herself she was looking at. Her attitude, her outlook on life, even her tone of voice... it all brought back bad memories to the raven slayer. She kept repeating it over in her head that it wasn't her any more. Not any more.

"I didn't ask for this you know." Jen's voice snapped Faith out of her trance. She looked over at the girl, who was eyeing her off carefully. Faith took a slow breath.

"Jen... none of us asked for this. You can't change your past... you can only choose your future." Faith replied. She knew that at this moment in time, she had to do her very best to act as much like an adult as she knew how to. She didn't have much experience with young, rebellious kids. Well... ok there was Dawn, but... that doesn't count does it?

"I was ripped away from my family because of this curse. My family... I had a mother, a father, I had 2 sisters and a brother. How do you think my parents dealt with telling my siblings 'oh yeah by the way, your sister is going away and you might not ever see her again'?" Jen's eyes were wavering slightly, but behind them, there was still a lot of anger and frustration. Faith felt bad.

She knew though, that Jen wasn't the only one that had lost someone in some way on their road to becoming a slayer. On their path, they had all found friendship and guidance in their fellow potentials, and in their Watcher, Dawn.

"Most of us have had to leave our friends and families to get here. It's a sacrifice we've all made, you're not alone in this." Faith told her as understandingly as she could. Jen scoffed.

"Please Faith, I've heard the stories about you. Do you even care about what you've lost along the way? Do you care that we all loved the people we lost? Jesus, do you even know what love is?" Jen accused her, some kind of twisted half smile on her face.

Faith lowered her head and laughed quietly. Did she know what love was? She thought she did... in fact, there was a certain girl in her life right now that was making feelings and sensations surface that she had once forgotten long, long ago.

"Yeah, I do. I love someone, and I respect them very much. They mean the world to me... and if they mean enough to you too, as your Watcher, then you owe it to her to go and see her today. She's been worried about you..." Faith told Jen firmly, watching as the cogs turned in the girl's head. Finally, she nodded.

With a small smile, Faith stood and reached into the refrigerator and grabbed a carton of milk. She lifted it to her lips and took a long swig, before replacing it in the shelf and wiping her mouth.

"Make sure you clean up when you're done eating, you know how April (the cafeteria cook) hates anything being out of place." Faith told her, turning to walk away. Jen laughed quietly.

"Right." she replied simply, watching as the raven slayer disappeared into the darkness.

Now here Jen was, crying and screaming at Dawn, to not ship her off to America.

"If you do this, I'll never forgive you!" She sobbed at her Watcher, but the anger and hatred surfacing in her words were like venom to the sensitive girl.

"Jen..." Dawn started, but was interrupted.

"It's that bitch Faith isn't it? She wants me gone. I know it! First she kills my girlfriend, and now she wants to take me away from my Watcher!" Jen spouted at her, starting to pace back and forth a little bit. Dawn furrowed her brows.

"Jen, no... no that's not it at all. I spoke to Giles about it, he agreed it would be in your best interests..." Dawn tried to console the girl, but was met with more anger.

"No! You know what? Screw you, screw you and your girlfriend, screw GILES, screw the Watcher's Council and screw this whole fucking slayer gig! Find someone else to do your dirty work!" Jen yelled at her, wiping the tears from her eyes, before turning and storming out of the office.

Faith had been standing patiently outside of the office, listening to the whole conversation, but not wanting to interrupt. Just waiting in case of something going wrong. She watched as the door swung open and Jen pushed past her. Dawn quickly followed after her, giving Faith a look that asked her for her assistance.

"Jen, where are you going?" Dawn called out as she watched the young slayer walk briskly down the staircase. Faith followed closely behind Dawn, watching and waiting to make sure that the girl didn't do anything stupid.

"I'm leaving! And don't try to stop me, you can't make me stay here!" Jen stopped momentarily to shout back at Dawn before pulling the front door open and stepping outside.

"Jen, wait..." Dawn followed her outside quickly, looking up at the sky and noticing the dark clouds looming above them. It looked like there would be rain, and she didn't want the girl to be out in it. Not with rogue vampires still looming around and not when the clothes on her back was all she had.

"I'll handle this." Faith intervened quickly, firmly placing a hand on her girlfriend's shoulder to hold her back. Dawn looked up at her desperately. Her eyes were begging her to not let the girl go, but unfortunately, Faith knew from experience that if she couldn't convince Jen to stay, she wouldn't.

Faith followed quickly after Jen who was walking off into the distance. She could smell the damp in the air, and the humidity making her clothes stick to her skin made it obvious that the rain would soon be on it's way.

"Jen! Don't be stupid, running away isn't going to solve anything!" Faith called after her, slight irritation and challenge coming through in her words. Jen stopped in her tracks. The raven slayer watched as her fingers flexed momentarily.

She spun around and walked up to Faith, bringing their faces within centimetres of each other.

"I don't CARE! I can't be under the same roof as you, don't you understand? How can you live with yourself everyday? You're a fucking murderer! You never changed did you Faith? And you NEVER will!" Jen shouted at her, her eyes on fire.

Faith didn't expect what was going to happen. She had no clue that she even had it still in her to do it, but before she could even convey thoughts into words, she was already feeling her knuckles connecting with Jen's jaw.

'What the fuck are you doing Faith? You're just proving everything she's just accused you of!' a voice of her reasoning in the back of her head. She tried to drown it out. It was like she had no control over her body, all she could feel was her muscles and her bones moving as she grabbed Jen by the shirt and threw her against a street lamp. The wind was knocked out of the girl who collapsed to the ground with a pained expression on her face.

Faith was acutely aware that she could hear Dawn's voice in the background, begging her to stop, pleading her to not do this. She tried so hard to listen to that voice, to focus on it, to picture Dawn's face in her mind... tears streaming down her face and a begging expression on her face.

The raven slayer slipped a knife she kept in her boot out, unfolding it quickly and pulling Jen up onto her feet, pressing her hard against the street lamp. She pressed the sharp edge of her blade against the girl's neck, close to drawing blood, and her eyes bore hard into Jen's.

She could see the fear, the terror, she could feel Jen's skin starting to sweat profusely.

A clap of thunder sounded overhead, and that's when the rain started to pour down. The cold wet droplets fell against their skin, rolling down Faith's face and arms. Other than the sounds of nature at work, there was no other noise. There was only silence and the raven slayer's deadly blade still pressed to the girl's throat.

"FAITH! PLEASE..." Dawn's voice broke through in desperation. Faith wavered.

Somehow, she managed to shake the fog that had overtaken her body, and as she looked at her hand and realised she was only seconds away from taking a life, her fingers began to shake. She suddenly reeled back and dropped her knife to the ground. It clattered sharply against the pavement, the sound echoing through all the girls' ears.

"Faith..." Jen's voice came through quietly and tentatively, shaking as she came to the realisation that she had just come face to face with death.

Faith's eyes snapped to hers. "Get out of here." she told her coldly.

Jen looked sad for a second, and she tried to take a step forward. "Faith, I'm sorry..."

Faith roared to life, pointing down the road in the opposite direction of the Watcher's HQ.

"GET OUT OF HERE, JEN!" she shouted at her, her eyes were red and she all of a sudden looked like a little kid who had just found out that Santa wasn't real.

Jen opened her mouth and was about to speak again, but before she did, she decided to nod her head cumbersomely before taking off in a jog away from Faith and Dawn.

Faith watched for several minutes, making sure Jen was a fair distance away before finally turning. She didn't realise that Dawn had approached her, and was standing directly behind her.

She couldn't find the words. What the hell could she say? 'Sorry, they were right. Maybe I'll never be a good person.' or 'You're better than this, better than me, go find someone else to get attached to'. But none of those words came out. There was only her and Dawn, staring at each other, having some kind of conversation through expressions alone.

Faith begun to shake her head, when suddenly, she felt her girlfriend throw her arms around her tightly. The raven slayer was taken aback by this, and it took her several moments to finally hug her back.

"Dawnie... I'm sorry..." she whispered through laboured breath. She closed her eyes and suddenly wished she could take back the last 20 minutes of her life. The only thing keeping her from collapsing into a pit of despair right there and then was the warm breath of the Watcher against her neck, a stark contrast to the freezing rain now pelting down on the both of them.

"Don't ever do that to me again..." Dawn whispered, and the slayer could instantly tell that she'd been crying. She felt terrible.

"I lost myself back there..." Faith replied, trying to reason. Dawn squeezed her tightly.

They continued like that for several minutes before Dawn finally pulled away. She looked deeply into her slayer's eyes, searching for something, anything...

"Come on... let's get out of this weather." Dawn said quietly, trying to make sense of all the conflicting emotions she had sensed within Faith.

The raven slayer nodded, quietly following her inside.

* * *

><p>Several weeks had passed since the incident with Jen. Giles had agreed that perhaps it was better to let her go than to force her to go to America against her will. He figured it would be highly likely that she would track down her family and friends and visit them, experience life out there for a while before she would eventually come to the realisation that she has a job to do as a slayer. After that she would most likely make her way back to her Watcher seeking forgiveness and another chance.<p>

Dawn was under stress. Her speech was tonight, and she was in a rush to make sure she had every last little bit organised for it. It hadn't helped that her and Faith had barely spent any time together lately. The slayer had been so involved in training the girls and going out in the middle of the night to dust vamps, that she wouldn't get to bed until the early hours of the morning. And it had always been in her own bedroom.

She hadn't made any late night visits to her girlfriend, and it was starting to bring doubt and worry into the young Watcher's mind.

Dawn sighed to herself as she placed the last of her papers into a folder, closing it neatly and placing it in front of her. As she did, there was a rap at her door.

"Come in." She called.

The door opened slowly, and she was greeted with the best sight she'd seen all day.

"Hey." Faith said quietly with a smile. Dawn's face instantly broke into a grin and she stood up, moving over to the slayer to enclose her in a warm hug.

"Hi!" Dawn replied sheepishly, pressing a kiss to her cheek.

"How's everything going? You ready for tonight?" Faith asked, looking at the desk and eyeing off the folder labelled "Speech". Dawn ran a hand through her hair as she broke the hug and went over to sit on the edge of her desk.

"I have everything ready. God Faith, I'm so nervous. This could be it, if it all goes fine, I'll be promoted to Watcher. It's been such a long time, so many years. I'll finally be able to take that long awaited break and see my sister and friends again." Dawn smiled gingerly, her eyes lighting up at the thought of finally seeing everyone again.

Faith moved forwards and cupped her cheek.

"Don't worry, you'll be fine. I know you, you're a freaking' firecracker who'll do anything to get what they want." she grinned at her girlfriend, who laughed a little.

"Well, I got you didn't I?" Dawn asked teasingly. Faith laughed.

"Yeah you sure did. Hook, line and sinker babe." she replied with a lopsided grin. Dawn smiled triumphantly as Faith pinched her cheek.

Dawn suddenly felt an ache in her crotch that she hadn't felt since the last time her and Faith had almost gone all the way. Her legs were slightly spread as her girlfriend was standing between them, looking down at her with those gorgeous brown eyes. She reached forwards and grabbed the hem of Faith's shirt, pulling her closer before pressing her lips to hers roughly, her tongue demanding entrance.

"Mmnnmh." Faith was taken aback slightly, but was also delighted at the contact. She tasted Dawn's lips, they tasted sweet, as if she'd recently eaten some candy or gum. She smiled at that thought.

Their tongues clashed and battled against one another for several minutes before Dawn finally pulled back, breaking the kiss.

"So... are you coming tonight?" Dawn asked, trying to catch her breath.

Faith was still in la-la land after the kiss, and when Dawn asked her that, her mind instantly went into the gutter. She imagined herself straddling the younger girl's hips as her fingers were inside of her, rocking back and forth, bucking against her. She bit her lip, suddenly realising that Dawn's confused expression meant she had completely missed what she'd meant when she asked "are you coming tonight."

"Oh... oh um... yeah. Your speech. I uh... I'd love to come to that." Faith replied, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

Dawn grinned as she realised that the raven slayer had misconstrued her words. She played with her shirt a little.

"I'd love it too." she replied, tilting her head up and letting Faith take her lips in another sweet kiss.

They kissed gently for several moments before Faith slowly pulled away, smiling down at Dawn. The raven slayer had had so much on her mind lately with the incident between her and Jen. She hadn't even had the guts to sneak into Dawn's room and slip into bed with her. She felt so guilty over what she did, she needed time to clear her head and let things calm down.

But here, and now, on probably the most important night of Dawn's life, she knew exactly where she needed to be. She couldn't let her past cloud her judgement. Yes, she had made a mistake, but Dawn had pulled her out of it. She was her rock, and Faith decided that as long as she had this woman by her side, she would be able to become a better, stronger person.

She noticed Dawn was now giving her a quizzical smile, causing Faith to smile sheepishly in return and blush lightly.

"Sorry I... I've been selfish lately. I didn't mean to avoid you I just... after what happened with Jen... I was so afraid that you'd reject me. I know I'm not the best person in the world, or the most caring, but... I could never live with myself if I ever hurt you." Faith told her, slight pain in her voice as she looked deeply into those amazing blue eyes.

Dawn's eyes shimmered, and she reached a hand up to tenderly stroke her slayer's cheek.

"Faith... that's exactly what I have in you. You made a mistake, you slipped up for a moment, but you never gave in. You're so strong, SO strong. Even when everyone else could see every inch of badness in you back in Sunnydale... I could see every inch of goodness... and that's all I've ever seen." Dawn told her gingerly, making sure she put every bit of emotion into her voice as she could. She wanted her girlfriend to feel every little bit of it.

Faith's breath hitched in her voice as she listened to Dawn's words, and she came to the realisation that the feelings the girl had for her now, were not a new thing. "Dawn, I... I can't..." her fingers were trembling.

Dawn lifted a finger to her lips and hushed her, looking at her caringly.

"Quiet. Let me finish." she told her, smiling as the slayer pressed a kiss to her finger before she pulled it away.

"Buffy didn't like me befriending you, because she knew I had a crush on you. She thought you would corrupt me and make me bad just by taking me out in the big wide world. But the truth is, you saved me by showing me the evil of the world. Buffy kept me so sheltered from it, I was naive. By seeing and experiencing it myself, I was able to understand it and grow stronger. Because of you..." Dawn continued. She watched as Faith's eyes showered her with understanding, and shivered slightly as the raven slayer's fingers stroked her sides.

"I'm not perfect, I've done a lot of stupid things. We're human, it's our first nature to do stupid things. The thing that really determines our integrity and our humanity is our capability to truly forgive." Dawn wrapped a hand around the back of Faith's neck and brought her lips even closer.

"I forgave you a long time ago, Faith. It's time for you to forgive yourself."

Faith's lips were trembling now, and she felt her eyes starting to sting and blur. Oh god no, don't cry, don't cry. Fuck, her words, how can she be doing this to me? It's... I've never felt this before... what? Oh god...

Dawn smiled beautifully, pulling Faith's lips close enough to feel the heat radiating from them. Just before she closed that last gap, she whispered "I love you Faith..."

Faith whimpered and pressed her lips hard to Dawn's, tasting and feeling every little bit of love and beauty filling her up to the brim. Every tiny bit of doubt, hatred, anger... everything washed away in that one moment.

She didn't know how much time had passed, it seemed almost like an eternity. She could still feel her whole body burning and tingling with all these new emotions as Dawn's lips finally pulled away from hers. Dawn reached up with her fingers and wiped away the stray tears that were falling freely down her girlfriend's cheeks.

"I... I... Dawn I..." Faith stuttered, trying to find a reply to Dawn's confession, but the girl silenced her again with her finger, looking at her sternly.

"It's ok. I understand if you can't say it yet. Just give it time... what's important now is that you know what you mean to me. Ok?" Dawn told her very confidently, with a tone of wistful happiness radiating from her.

Faith sniffled slightly before nodding her head in reply. She reached up with a hand and wiped away some more of the moisture.

"Shit... Dawn. You've reduced me from feared slayer to a babbling, bawling pile of goo. You better not tell a soul about this." She joked slightly, watching the girl before her break into a giant grin.

"What are you gonna' do if I do tell someone?" she teased her slayer in return. She instantly regretted it as Faith pulled her into a tight embrace and began tickling her relentlessly. Dawn squealed and tried to find a way to get out of her grasp, but it was too tight, and the tickling was making her laugh so hard that she had lost any bit of strength left in her body.

"You're not gonna' tell anyone, are you baby? 'Cos I think you might just regret it if you did!" Faith teased her with a huge, cheeky grin on her face. Dawn's laughter was contagious, and the slayer couldn't help but break into hysterics herself.

Dawn shook her head frantically. "NO! I WON'T, I PROMISE! I GIVE!" she managed to shout, and finally collapsed against Faith as the tickling ceased. Faith chuckled.

"Good, 'cos if you do, I'll tie you to the bed and tickle you non-stop for several hours." she threatened playfully. Dawn shook her head in protest against the slayers chest.

Faith laughed and finally released Dawn, giving her a kiss on the forehead.

"Come on, get ready. You've got a speech to give, and if these guys are anything like Giles, they won't be pleased if you turn up late because you were otherwise engaged with another woman." Faith stated with a smile, giving her girlfriend a little smack on the arse. Dawn yelped and glared in return, but she got one back by reaching around and snapping Faith's bra strap.

"Ow! You little..." Faith elicited. She was about to get her girlfriend back, but the girl slipped her and ran out of the room.

"I need to get ready!" she yelled back to Faith. The raven slayer sighed before following suit.

* * *

><p>Dawn was so nervous. In fact, probably the most nervous she'd ever been in her life. She was just off-stage and waiting for her name to be called out to give her speech. She took a deep breath and tried to remember what Faith had told her just before.<p>

"Just relax. I'll be watching you the whole time, so if you get nervous, just look for me in the crowd and imagine me naked." Faith had grinned broadly at herself.

Dawn smiled a little as she remembered that, but she hoped that she didn't end up doing it. It might cause her to become even more nervous and stutter during her speech. She took another calming breath.

"And now, to give her speech on improving vampire and demon hunting techniques, I present to you our very capable Watcher in Training, Dawn Summers." The man on stage announced, to which the room filled with the sound of clapping.

"This is it." Dawn told herself, and readied herself as she stepped out onto the stage, nodding at the older man appreciatively as she reached the podium microphone.

"Good evening everyone. As you well know, there was been great advancements in technology in recent years. It's becoming easier and easier to hunt down vampires and demons, even those that in past years have proved to be very elusive. I'm here today to talk about ways we can incorporate newer technology into our training regimes for our slayers and potential slayers." Dawn began.

Her eyes flitted across the crowd and quickly spotted Faith somewhere in the middle, laid back in her chair with a big smile on her face. She flashed Dawn a quick wink.

Dawn took a deep breath and smiled, before continuing her speech with renewed vigour.

She truly hadn't expected it to go that well. At the end of it, the crowd had erupted into heavy clapping, and as she had disappeared back stage, she almost fell over herself as she saw who was there with a proud smile on his face.

"Giles!" She shouted, running towards him and embracing him in a warm hug. The man stuttered slightly as he tried to find a way to deal with the human contact.

"Er.. um... yes I uh... thought it would be... a pleasant surprise for you Dawn. Besides, I wouldn't want to miss your speech for anything. I am quite confident that on my request, we can get you enough letters of recommendation to have you promoted to full fledged Watcher by the end of the month." He told her warmly, letting her go from the hug as her eyes lit up.

"It was really that good?" She asked hopefully, and watched as the man almost erupted into laughter.

"I don't think good is even half of it." he replied. Dawn was absolutely over the moon. This was what she'd been waiting for for such a long time... and now it was finally happening!

"Giles, this is the best news, oh god I'm so excited! Would you join myself and Faith for the rest of the meeting? She's sitting somewhere in the middle row." Dawn told him, suddenly unable to control the fact that her body was practically bouncing.

"It would be my pleasure. Oh, speaking of Faith, has she settled in well?" he enquired as they walked through one of the corridors back to the main seating area. Dawn grinned.

"You could say that." she said with a laugh.

* * *

><p>Faith didn't know what was a better feeling. The absolute pride that she was brimming with from hearing her girlfriend's amazing speech, or the absolute hilarity of Giles' reaction to her leaning over and practically swallowing Dawn's face.<p>

They sat happily together for the rest of the meeting, although Faith would later admit she wasn't paying attention to any of it, and was quite happy when it was finally over and they could get up and leave.

She lead the way as they pushed through the crowds, many of them stopping them to shake Dawn's hand and congratulate her on an amazing speech. The younger girl was embarrassed and thrilled at all of this attention.

They had finally almost reached the exit, when they were stopped by 2 more people.

"That was an amazing speech Dawnie, I'm glad to see that the 3 years I've missed you for hasn't been in vain." came the all too familiar voice.

Dawn stopped in her tracks, and was greeted by the sight of her grinning sister, and a glowing Willow.

"BUFFY?" Dawn practically screamed, rushing forwards and throwing her arms around her. Buffy hugged her back tightly, picking her up and spinning her around in the air.

"BUFFY OH MY GOD I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'RE HERE! How... how did you?" Dawn was still in such shock and surprise as Buffy finally put her back down on her feet, but the only hint Buffy gave was a nod of her head in Giles' direction.

Dawn turned to him, smiling broadly, noticing the twinkle in his eyes and the cheeky old smile.

"Giles?" Dawn questioned, unable to contain her happiness. He adjusted his glasses a little and cleared his throat.

"Yes, well, you see... I thought that since you will be a Watcher soon, it might be a lovely way to celebrate by surprising you with a visit from Buffy and Willow. I do know you've missed them terribly, so, consider this an early graduation present." as much as he tried to keep a straight face, there was no way good old Giles could disguise just how thrilled he was with himself and his master plan.

"Giles... I can't thank you enough!" Dawn proclaimed, hugging him tightly for a moment, before moving over to Willow.

"Dawnie!" Willow said excitedly, embracing the younger girl in a heart felt hug.

"B!" Faith grinned, giving the blonde slayer a slap on the arm. Buffy laughed, grabbing Faith's arm and pulling her to her for a very rough hug, patting her on the back.

"Good to see you again Faith, hope you haven't been giving them too much trouble down here." She replied teasingly. Faith smirked as Buffy let go of her.

"You know it's the funniest thing B, trouble just seems to follow me wherever I go." she said with a shrug of her shoulders. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"I guess that's why you're here." Faith grinned even wider, waiting for Buffy to open her mouth in mock horror, reaching forwards and giving the raven slayer a shove.

"This is the best day in my life!" Dawn proclaimed, literally on the verge of exploding from happiness and excitement.

"Even better than the day you saw me naked in the bathroom?" Faith enquired with gigantic smirk on her face, arms crossed over her chest. Dawn's face went bright beetroot red, and Willow, Giles and Buffy had all turned to stare open mouthed, their eyes shifting between the two girls.

Dawn wrung her hands, before clearing her throat.

"Oh... Dawn..." Willow tried to interrupt the silence, but it was obvious her mind was somewhere else. Perhaps thinking of Faith nude, or maybe Dawn's reaction to seeing her nude... or perhaps even some adventures that might have followed it?

"Soooo, uh... who wants to go get some dinner?" Dawn asked quickly, shooting Faith a death glare, but the raven slayer only gave her a shrug of her shoulders and a triumphant smile.

"Dinner! Great, yes. Let's get dinner. I'm starving, and you know how horrible those in-flight meals are. Even the sandwiches taste like reconstituted crap." Willow babbled on, relaxing everyone and shifting their attention from imagining Faith's nude form.

"I could go for some pizza." Faith replied with a nod. Dawn smiled.

"There's a pizza joint just down the road. Come on, I'll drive." Dawn replied, leading the gang outside.

As Faith and Buffy trailed behind them, the blonde slayer turned to her dark haired companion.

"Naked?" she asked her with an inquisitive look. Faith laughed.

"Hey, it's not my fault she didn't knock before entering." the raven slayer replied, enjoying the slight blush that crept up Buffy's neck.

* * *

><p>They seated themselves in a large booth at the pizza joint and ordered their food. Giles was in the furthest corner, with Dawn next to him and Faith on her other side. Buffy and Willow sat together, adjacent from the other 3.<p>

"I'm famished." Faith drooled as she looked at the pictures of all the different pizzas on the menu, suddenly wondering to herself if eating take out menus was bad for you.

"Me too. Not to mention I could go for something to warm me up. Jeez Dawnie it's so cold here in England, how do you do it?" Willow said, wrapping her arms around herself to keep warm. Dawn chuckled.

"You get used to it after living here for a while. That and you can always go down to the gym and workout for a while to warm up." she replied, shivering slightly as she felt Faith's hand snake down and rest gently on her thigh. She looked at the slayer, and noticed she was too busy staring longingly at the pizza menu, and that she didn't even seem to notice where she had put her hand subconsciously. Dawn grinned.

"Us slayers are naturally warmer anyway, it doesn't bother me that much." Buffy said with a shrug. Willow chuckled.

"I won't deny that." she replied cheekily.

Dawn grinned. "Nice for those cold stormy nights." she replied, suddenly noticing Buffy raising an eyebrow at her. She looked around quickly, before changing the subject. "But speaking of slayers... who's taking care of things back in America?"

"Oh, Kennedy has things under control. That and all the potentials we've trained, they're not going to miss us for a week." Willow replied, a lopsided smile on her face.

"How is things with you and Kennedy, Red?" Faith suddenly interjected, looking up from her menu. Willow suddenly seemed to get a little down, and she scratched at her arm absent mindedly.

"Oh... um... we're not really... seeing each other any more." Willow answered finally, a small but sad smile crossing her face. Faith gave her a small nod of sympathy.

"Jeez Red, I'm sorry. But hey, don't worry about it. I'm sure princess charming will come along any time now and sweep you off your feet." Faith replied, giving her her most uplifting and goofy smile. Willow laughed quietly.

"Thanks Faith. In all honesty though I'm really just enjoying myself, being single and all that. Who knows though, maybe you could take me clubbing while we're here, show me where all the hot chicks hang out!" Willow tried her very best to sound as sexy and alluring as she could, but it really just came out sounding absolutely adorable and hilarious.

Faith chuckled. "There's enough hot chicks at the Watcher's HQ alone." she glanced over and noticed her girlfriend lowering her eyebrows at her. Faith gave her her best 'I'm just kidding' smile, before giving her thigh a squeeze.

The looks and attitude between Faith and Dawn hadn't gone unnoticed. Buffy was watching the whole thing, the wheels turning in her head.

"Faith, would you mind coming outside with me for a moment? I'd like to speak to you about something." Buffy said sincerely, looking across at the raven slayer.

Faith suddenly felt like a kid who had been caught with their hand in the cookie jar, and she looked nervously at the blonde slayer.

"Uh, sure B." she replied, as she did, both her and Buffy stood. Faith gave a warm smile to Dawn, who's face was obviously painted with that of slight anxiety.

"We won't be long." Buffy assured the others, before she led Faith outside.

The raven slayer leant up against the brick wall, arms crossed over her chest, her eyes boring into Buffy's.

"What is it, B? Spit it out." Faith asked her quickly, her voice quite serious. Buffy tried to keep as straight a face as she could as she stood a little closer to the raven slayer.

"Faith... I know what's going on." she started, and instantly Faith cursed under her breath, shuffling her feet under her a little. This was it, Buffy was going to kick her arse for being with her sister. Buffy tilted her head a little.

"You and Dawn. You're together aren't you?" Buffy continued.

Faith took a deep breath. "Look, B, it's not like you probably think it is. I... Dawn is a great girl. She... she's amazing. SO amazing. I never thought anything like this would happen, but it did. And you know what I'm SO grateful that it did." Faith started defending herself, her tone of voice raising a little, her eyes glazing over.

"And... and... Dawn's an adult. She's capable of making her own decisions about who she wants to be with. She isn't that little girl any more, she's grown up into a beautiful... woman. I wish I could explain it to you B I really do, but I can't."

"Faith..." Buffy started quietly, trying to interrupt her.

"No, B! Don't try to tell me I can't be with her, it won't work. For the first time in my life I TRULY feel loved and accepted, and I don't want to lose what we have!" Faith continued.

"Faith..." Buffy repeated again, raising her voice a little more, but the raven slayer interrupted her again.

"I know you think I'm just nothing but a fuck up, and I know you think I'm no good for her. But I've changed, B. In ways I never imagined that I would. And it's all because of Dawn, she makes me a better person. I know you will never approve of me being with her, and I don't care!" Faith raised her voice more, trying desperately to get her point across.

"Faith! I DO approve!" Buffy finally managed to interject, her face absolutely flabbergasted.

"You see what I mean? I knew it, you just can't be happy for one sing... wait...wait what?" Faith was about to start arguing her point, when she suddenly realised just what Buffy had said. Her face was full of confusion as she looked at Buffy, noticing how the blonde slayer was grinning back at her.

"I said... I approve." Buffy repeated herself, watching her companions facial expression turn into that of utter relief.

"You... approve? But..." Faith tried to understand, but she was having difficulty. Buffy moved forwards, placing her hands on the raven slayers shoulders.

"I know Dawn has liked you since... well... since I used to spy on her diary. But, that's not the point." Buffy rushed the rest of the sentence before Faith could scorn her for reading the girl's diary. "My point is, I know you've changed. Dawn's changed too. She's growing up, and you're right. She can make her own decisions."

Faith looked into Buffy's eyes, wondering to herself if this was the real Buffy, or if it wasn't some really cool Buffy bot sent as a decoy.

"So, we're cool then?" Faith asked quietly, watching as Buffy chuckled softly and pulled her into a hug.

"Yeah, we're cool." Buffy replied, squeezing the slayer softly before letting her go. "Besides, Dawn's emails have never sounded as happy and content as they have the last few weeks since you've been here with her. Who am I to take that happiness away from her?"

Faith blushed a little, wringing her hands.

"Just don't hurt her. Because if you do, I'll hunt you down and kill you myself, understand?" Buffy finished, looking at the raven slayer sternly. Faith nodded quickly.

"I won't hurt her B, I promise. I... I lov..." the words about to leave her lips were taking both her and Buffy by surprise, but thankfully she was saved the embarrassment as Dawn burst open the restaurant door.

"Pizza's served guys! Come get it while it's hot!" the girl told them enthusiastically, with a huge grin on her face.

"Sure thing Dawnie." Buffy told her with a smile, giving Faith a curious look before she went inside. Faith swallowed quickly, rushing inside as well.

"Everything ok?" Dawn asked her quietly, looking up at her with a small smile. Faith leant down and pressed a kiss to her lips, lingering for a while.

"Yeah, every thing's just fine babe." she replied, watching as Dawn's face turned red, and she laughed sheepishly.

With that, they went over to sit and enjoy their dinner with friends and family, reminiscing on old times and telling new stories of adventures and laughing and joking like it was just yesterday they'd all been together.

* * *

><p>The night had been amazing to say the very least. After everyone had worn themselves out from laughter and enjoying the sights of the town, they had all eventually resigned that they had to go home and get some shut eye.<p>

Dawn had given one of the spare rooms to Buffy and Willow, and another to Giles. After they had all said their good nights to each other, they retired to their rooms. Dawn had taken Faith by the hand, and led her to her bedroom.

As they had undressed and gotten into their pyjamas, they chatted away about how great it had been spending the night out with Buffy, Giles and Willow.

Dawn crawled into her side of her bed, snuggling up underneath the blankets and looking over at Faith, who was still tugging on her track-pants.

"Thank you so much for everything, Faith. It means the world to me that you were there tonight. I don't think I would have gotten through that speech with so much confidence without you being there in the crowd." Dawn said, her eyes shining brightly in the dim lighting of her bedside lamp. Faith smiled tenderly, moving over to the bed and sliding in next to her girlfriend.

"You would have been great, whether I was there or not. But, I'm glad I was there." Faith replied to her, shuffling over and wrapping her arms around her slim body. Dawn sighed contentedly and closed her eyes, reaching over to turn off her lamp.

"Mhmmhm... you feel so good." Dawn mumbled under her breath, starting to doze as the warmth of her slayer washed over her body. Faith linked their fingers together, smiling and pressing a few tender kisses to Dawn's neck.

The raven slayer closed her eyes, breathing in the sweet scent of vanilla shampoo that Dawn used to wash her hair, and the delicate musky smell of her perfume.

Right now, there was nowhere else in the world the slayer would rather have been. She felt like she was on a cloud, drifting far away with a beautiful angel beside her. Shuffling closer to the girl next to her, she let out a small sigh, the beginning of a dream taking her away.

Dawn listened as her girlfriend's breath slowed and the fingers that were linked with hers loosened a little. She smiled, knowing that Faith was drifting into a peaceful slumber.

Nuzzling her pillow a little to get more comfortable, she felt her heart suddenly jump up in her throat as Faith mumbled something in her sleep.

"_I love you Dawn..." _the words were quiet, and only just distinguishable, but she definitely knew what she had just heard.

Letting a small sound escape her lips, she squeezed Faith's hand.

"I love you too Faith." Dawn whispered back, trying to resist the sudden urge she had to shout out to the heavens that her raven slayer, Faith Lehane, truly did love her.

It wasn't long before Dawn also joined Faith, flying high above the heavens on that beautiful cloud.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: This chapter took me a little longer to finish than the other ones did. I was truly torn between writing the love scene between Dawn and Faith this chapter or leaving it for the next one, but then finally decided to wait. For me, I felt it was incredibly important for the feelings between the two to come to light before they consummate their love for each other. Rest assured though, next chapter will definitely contain sexy times!<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, all the characters from the show belong to Joss Whedon and Mutant Enemy.

Feedback: Much appreciated. As always, email me at .

Pairing: Dawn/Faith

Warning: This story contains love scenes between two females, so if you're offended by female/female relationships or just plain don't want to read sex scenes, then I suggest you get the fudge out. :-)

Plot: It's 3 years after defeating the Hellmouth in Sunnydale. Dawn has been living in Britain to train as a Watcher, when a new arrival and an old friend make a surprise visit.

**AN: I apologise for the delay in this chapter. I've been feeling unwell the last few days and just haven't had the energy to sit down and write. Hopefully the fluff makes up for it though :)**

* * *

><p>Dawn awoke early that morning. To her, it almost felt as if it was Christmas morning, when you would awake while the house was still chilly and silent before running downstairs to rip open all the presents underneath the glittering Christmas tree to see what Santa had brought you.<p>

She yawned and rolled over, facing her beautiful girlfriend's face, which was glowing, bathed in the warm morning sunlight. Dawn sighed and smiled, her heart melting at the sight, then melting a little more as she remembered what Faith had let slip in her sleep last night.

She couldn't help but smile so hard she felt like her mouth might just fall off her face. She gingerly reached a hand over and tucked some locks of the slayer's hair behind her ear, before leaning over and pressing a kiss softly to her cheek.

"Mmmhnn..." Faith mumbled adorably, her nose wriggling as some strands of Dawn's hair tickled it. The Watcher laughed quietly, before turning and slowly easing herself out of bed. However, the lack of warmth of the girl next to her quickly stirred Faith from her slumber.

She groaned and stretched out, slowly opening her eyes enough to search the room for her missing girlfriend. She spotted her at the closet, pulling on a pair of grey running pants and a form fitting singlet. Faith watched her for a few moments, simply entranced by the the form of the younger girl.

As Dawn moved over to the shoe rack and picked up her joggers, she looked over and noticed that her girlfriend had awakened. She smiled and tip toed over to the bed, easing herself onto the edge of the mattress.

"Morning baby." Dawn told her sweetly, laughing quietly when the slayer shuffled closer to her and draped an arm over her lap.

"Whatcha' doin'?" Faith asked sleepily, closing her eyes a little as Dawn slowly stroked her luscious dark locks of hair.

"I'm going for a run. Want to join me?" Dawn asked with a smile. Faith grumbled under her breath, squeezing Dawn tightly in protest.

"How about you join me in bed?" Faith replied firmly, her eyes opening and looking up at Dawn, a slight twinkle hinting at something other than just sleeping in and cuddling. Dawn's cheeks reddened a little, but she leant down and pressed her lips to the slayer's, kissing her softly.

"As tempting as that is, this body isn't going to keep itself in shape." Dawn replied, watching as Faith's hands wandered over her thighs teasingly. She could see a cheeky smile form on the slayer's lips.

"I could think of a few extra-curricular activities that will keep you in shape." Faith said raunchily, suddenly lifting up the bottom of Dawn's shirt and biting down on the tender flesh that was there. Dawn yelped and quickly pulled away, standing up and staring down at her girlfriend, who had a most satisfied grin on her face. Dawn tried her best not to grin herself, but did her very best impersonation of someone being very serious.

"I'm going for a run, you're welcome to join me, however if you don't... I'm going to assume your defeat and that I'm much fitter and stronger than you are." Dawn told her, with a raise of her eyebrow as she watched Faith's face turn to that of annoyance.

"I'll have you know I'm the fittest of everyone here!" she defended herself, suddenly sitting up in bed and folding her arms across her chest. Dawn tilted her head slightly with a look of challenge on her face.

"Well then, you won't have any problem going for a run, will you?" she asked, watching as Faith lowered her eyes and let the cogs turn for a few moments in her head, before finally pushing herself up out of bed.

She stepped up close to Dawn's face, staring her down.

"I hope you packed some tissues baby, cos you're gonna' be crying when I beat you out there." Faith told her, a teasing smirk making it's way across her face. Dawn licked her lips.

"I don't care, as long as you lick up all that _wetness_ afterwards..." Dawn teased back, her voice coming out a little lower than she had expected.

Faith swallowed hard, before grabbing Dawn by the waist and pulling her to her for a deep, hot kiss. Their tongues tangled and wrestled, fighting for dominance. Dawn moaned deeply into her girlfriend's mouth, running her fingers through her thick hair and pulling her even closer to her, managing to get her tongue even deeper between her lips.

Faith loved the feeling of the younger girl's tongue swirling around hers, making her feel light headed and causing butterflies to run rampant through her body. Her fingers were shaky as she pressed them into Dawn's side, pushing her shirt up and feeling the warm, silky flesh there.

Dawn gasped quietly as Faith trailed her fingernails over the girl's lower back and sides, before pushing her shirt up further and gently cupping the underside of her breasts.

"Mmm..Mmnn.." Dawn quickly reached into her shirt and pulled Faith's hands free, smiling softly at her. The raven slayer pouted and made a noise of protest, trying to move in for another grab, but being evaded by the quicker young girl.

"No! You're not going to distract me. Now get dressed, we're going for a run." Dawn told her very sternly, before moving away and opening the bedroom door. She looked back at her moping girlfriend and grinned.

"I'll be waiting downstairs for you." Dawn told her enthusiastically, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

"Fuckin' tease." Faith mumbled underneath her breath, going to find something to wear.

As she rummaged through Dawn's clothing, she spotted something and instantly grinned to herself. Oh yes, she would wear this. Mhm, this would make excellent pay back for her being teased...

* * *

><p>Dawn was waiting outside of the HQ, stretching out her legs and arms and enjoying breathing in the lovely scents of the sweet, fresh morning air. She stretched out her back and took in a nice, deep breath, before exhaling and shaking out her limbs.<p>

She turned as she heard the door behind her open, but wasn't exactly prepared for the sight that met her. Her mouth dropped open slightly.

Faith was wearing possibly the shortest shorts she'd ever seen, only about 2 or 3 inches down her thigh, and on top she was wearing a tight crop top, exposing all of her highly toned and muscular abdomen. Dawn swallowed and nearly melted into a pile of goo right there and then as the slinky woman jogged over to her, grinning.

"How do I look?" Faith asked, doing a little twirl, showing off even more of her amazing figure. Dawn went a little weak at the knees, unable to do anything but open and close her mouth slowly and smile goofily.

"I... I'm... dating you..." she finally managed to practically drool the words from her lips, as Faith stood before her, chuckling lightly. The slayer ran her fingers over her stomach, licking her lips slightly.

"That's right, also, your name is Dawn Summers, and you're a Watcher." Faith mocked her slightly at the fact she was stating the obvious. Dawn frowned a little and blushed.

"Shut up." Dawn quipped, turning and starting to jog off in the opposite direction. Faith laughed again and broke into a run, catching up to her quickly before taking off ahead of her.

"Hey!" Dawn shouted out after her, suddenly pushing her legs to break out into a sprint, catching up to her as best as she could. She scowled across at her girlfriend. Faith just winked at her as she easily kept her pace.

"What's the matter, having trouble keeping up?" she teased the younger girl. Dawn huffed and looked straight ahead of her.

"Nope, none whatsoever." She replied nonchalantly. Faith grinned, slowing down only slightly so she could get a good look at Dawn's behind.

* * *

><p>They had been running for at least half an hour, when they crossed paths with another woman who was out jogging. The woman had what appeared to be a Labrador cross on a leash running with her. Faith instantly stopped running and her face softened.<p>

"Ohhhh look at that adorable puppy!" She cooed, referring to it as a puppy, despite the fact that it was obviously an adult. Dawn slowed down and watched with interest.

"Can I pat your dog?" Faith asked the woman hopefully, who smiled and nodded.

"Sure!" she replied, watching as Faith leant down and started patting the dog and cuddling it.

"Oh yes who's a good puppy! Yes you are, awwww you're so cute!" Faith baby talked to the dog, eliciting an adorable laugh as the dog wagged it's tail frantically and licked it's new found friend. Dawn raised an eyebrow, but couldn't help but laugh at watching as this rough and tough woman turned to mush just because of an animal.

"Thank you so much, you have a beautiful dog." Faith told the woman, smiling kindly as the woman nodded then was on her way with the dog, who turned back several times to get another look at Faith.

Dawn came closer to her girlfriend, looking up at her.

"You like dogs huh?" Dawn asked quizzically, watching as Faith blushed lightly.

"Yeah, I mean. They're so cute... and they're loyal, and protective. I've always wanted a dog of my own." Faith told her girlfriend truthfully, her own eyes turning very puppy dog like. Dawn frowned.

"Wait, you've never had a pet dog before?" Dawn asked quickly, taking her slayer's hand and squeezing it. Faith shrugged.

"No I... I was never allowed one growing up before. My mum was... well she was... I just... never had one." Faith stumbled over her words, becoming more embarrassed and ashamed by the minute. Dawn suddenly looked up at her apologetically, cupping her cheek and turning it to look her in the eyes.

"Baby I'm so sorry, I didn't know." Dawn replied, pulling Faith down for a tender, caring kiss. Faith sighed as she relished the sweet contact from her love. As the kiss broke, she looked down at her thankfully.

"It's ok. Just being with you makes up for all the crap I've endured in my life." Faith told her honestly, stroking her hair softly. Dawn smiled sheepishly.

"And being with you completes me in every way I've ever wanted. You're so perfect." Dawn replied, leaning gently into Faith's touch.

The raven slayers breath caught in her throat a little bit before she finally inhaled deeply and took Dawn by the hand.

"Come on, let's get back home baby. I'll race ya'." Faith teased her, watching as the younger girl looked at her with a shine in her eyes.

"You're on!" she replied.

They took off in a sprint.

* * *

><p>Buffy and Willow were already up and in the cafeteria enjoying their breakfast when Dawn and Faith finally arrived, bursting through the doors together, both dripping with sweat and panting.<p>

Buffy raised an eyebrow, about to shove a fork of eggs and bacon into her mouth. Willow seemed to break into a bright blush, and was obviously thinking something similar to what Buffy was thinking.

Faith saw them seated and waved, grinning wildly. Willow and Buffy both waved back, shooting each other a look as Faith leant over and whispered something to Dawn, who nodded and smiled back at her before heading over to the food counters.

Faith sauntered over and took a seat adjacent to Buffy, reaching over and stealing the slayers diet coke. Buffy opened her mouth to say something, but changed her mind. It was too late, her drink had Faith germs all over it.

The raven slayer polished off most of it before sliding it back over to the blonde slayer, who looked at her drink disdainfully.

"What's up guys?" Faith asked, leaning forwards and resting her forearms on the table.

"Just enjoying our cafe` le slayer breakfast." Willow joked, trying to make it sound like it was incredibly fancy.

"Hey, it beats having to cook it ourselves." Buffy interjected with a knowing nod. Willow shrugged her shoulders.

"You didn't seem to complain that time I got you to help me cook those Easter egg shaped pancakes and decorate them." Willow told her, quite matter of factly. Buffy rolled her eyes.

"Wills, they were regular pancakes, you just called them Easter egg shaped. And the decorations were whipped cream smiley faces." Buffy told her, smiling lightly. Willow bit her lip and looked thoughtful for a moment.

"Yeah, well... don't... don't make me tell her about what we did with the whipped cream afterwards." Willow suddenly looked very serious, making Buffy glare at her.

"You wouldn't dare..." Buffy asked under her breath.

"Wait... what?" Faith interjected, watching as both of the embarrassed women looked at her then back down at their food.

"Breakfast is served!" Dawn said triumphantly, placing the two serving plates down in front of Faith, one for each of them.

"Mmmm thanks baby." Faith said in her husky voice, eyeing off the food, before leaning over and pressing a raunchy kiss to Dawn's lips.

"Mmmm... so how did you guys sleep last night? I hope our beds are comfortable enough for you. Were you warm enough?" Dawn asked, looking over at her sister and Willow as she tucked into her food.

"Oh we were plenty warm." Willow replied quite happily, not realising the strange look that she was being given by Faith. Buffy nudged her.

"Yeah, plenty of blankets, plenty of warmth." Buffy quickly added with a nod. Dawn smiled, seemingly oblivious to the subtle hints.

"That's great. Gosh, I'm so happy, I still can't believe you guys are here!" Dawn replied, her eyes suddenly lighting up again. Buffy grinned over at her.

"Hey, I'm the annoying, bossy, older sister. You know you can't keep me away!" Buffy teased her, watching as Dawn laughed heartily.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Dawn replied cheekily, only laughing more as Buffy pouted back at her.

"So what's with all the sweaty, running, out of breathness all about... did someone have a nice time in bed this morning?" Willow just couldn't help herself but to pry into all the sexy gossipy goodness.

Both Buffy and Dawn nearly choked on their food at the question, while Faith just laughed.

"We just went for a run this morning. Why, what were YOU thinking Red?" Faith raised an eyebrow at the now profusely blushing wiccan.

"Oh... oh I... I thought... oh boy..." the redhead suddenly seemed to be very intrigued by her food. Faith continued laughing, absolutely amused at the situation. Oh yes, she could tell exactly what was on Red's mind. She didn't come down in the last shower, she could see all the signals between B and Red.

She continued smirking to herself. She always knew the babbling wiccan had had a thing for Buffy, and I mean it was obvious that the blonde slayer wasn't exactly clueless of it. In fact, that was probably one of the main reasons Buffy had never been able to hold down a stable relationship with any guy for an extended period of time. No living guys, anyway.

"I'd rather not know about my sister's bedroom adventures with Faith, thanks Wills." Buffy stated flatly, eyeing off the still blushing redhead. Willow made a slightly embarrassed noise before biting into her food again.

"I'll have you know, that there's nothing to tell. Not that I WOULD tell, if there was." Dawn replied firmly, pointing at her sister with her fork. Buffy raised an eyebrow.

"You're not seriously going to have me believe that Faith has been an innocent little slayer and not bedded you yet?" Buffy asked sarcastically, her face giving way to obvious disbelief.

"She has a point, I mean who wouldn't want to bed you?" Willow chimed in, warranting a glare from both Dawn and Buffy.

"Wills!" they both shouted simultaneously. Willow blushed again.

"What! I'm just saying... Dawnie has grown up to be... a very... a... well she's... I mean look at her!" Willow was exasperated, but the more she spoke, the more she put her foot in her mouth.

Dawn groaned and folded her arms on the table, hiding her face against them. Buffy looked like she might blow her top, and was unable to find any words.

"She has a point. Dawn's a regular hottie. But as much as I'd love to tap that, I'll have you know I'm on my best behaviour. Besides, a girl's first time has to be special, y'know?" Faith interrupted, obviously not bothered by the subject one bit.

Dawn groaned again, this time even louder, and Buffy and Willow both looked as if they'd just seen a ghost. Faith was silent for about 10 seconds, looking between everyone at the table before she spoke again.

"Did I say something wrong?" she asked, watching as Dawn pulled her face out of hiding, looking pleadingly at her girlfriend.

"Sweety... was it really necessary to make a point of me being a virgin?" she asked Faith, her cheeks bright red. Faith suddenly realised, and scratched at her head while looking at Dawn apologetically.

"Oh... gee, I'm sorry. I guess I just have a way with words..." Faith spoke quietly, smiling slightly to try and lighten the mood.

"Say, I have an idea. How about we all go out shopping today? Doesn't that sound nice? I think it sounds nice." Willow suddenly interjected, trying her best to cheer up Dawn and steer the conversation to a different topic.

"Shopping! Yes, shopping sounds good. I could use some good retail therapy." Buffy agreed quickly, nodding her head enthusiastically. Dawn sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

"I guess some shopping would be nice. At least Giles agreed to take over my classes while you guys are visiting, so it's not like I have an excuse to get out of it either." Dawn replied, taking a large mouthful of food from her plate and stuffing her face with it.

"Sounds like a plan then. After we finish eating we'll go get cleaned up, then we can go hit the town." Willow replied ecstatically, finishing up the food she had on her plate.

Everyone else also finished up their food, enjoying quiet conversation before finally getting up to go get showered and dressed.

* * *

><p>So here they were, out in the hustle and bustle of the city and the main shops.<p>

The weather was cool, but not cold. It was pleasant enough that they only needed light coats. The slayers on the other hand, were only wearing T-shirts and jeans, being that they were warmer than regular humans.

They had enjoyed the sights, exploring clothes stores, nick nack stores, and of course, thoroughly adventuring to the depths of weapon stores on the whim of two incredibly excited slayers. Dawn hadn't minded though, she was quite happy here, walking through the stores and streets hand in hand with her beautiful woman.

Despite how tough, sarcastic, and sometimes downright vulgar Faith could be when conversing with the three of them, Dawn wouldn't have it any other way. She only had to look over and see the warmth in the slayer's eyes as she stared deeply into them, squeezing her hand tightly.

It was as they were passing one store in particular that Faith had felt Dawn come to a halt, and looked down at her questioningly.

"You right, babe?" she asked, slightly confused by the thoughtful look on her Watcher's face. Dawn looked up at her momentarily before nodding, then giving her hand a squeeze.

"Yeah, um... could you give me a sec?" she asked quickly, waiting as Faith slowly nodded and lifted her hand to her lips, giving it a small kiss.

"Sure thing." Faith replied, and watched as Dawn slipped over to Willow, pulling the red head to the side and whispering something to her.

Faith lowered her eyebrows slightly. She couldn't hear what they were saying, not that she would want to listen in on a conversation if it was important to her girlfriend that she not hear it. She smiled slightly as Willow glanced over at her several times, smiling and nodding at whatever Dawn was saying.

"What's all that about?" Buffy asked, standing beside the raven haired slayer and also watching the exchange between her sister and the wiccan. Faith shrugged.

"Beats me." Faith replied, growing ever more curious.

Buffy and Faith watched as Dawn and Willow finally finished their conversation, smiling brightly and bouncing over to the two slayers. Buffy raised an eyebrow at the mysterious expression on their faces.

"What are you two up to?" Buffy asked accusingly, but with a tone of humour in her voice. Dawn grinned wildly, noticing the confused smile that Faith shot her.

"You guys can go on ahead. Willow and I are going to have some 1 on 1 time... y'know... girl talk and all?" Dawn replied cheekily, noticing the way the blonde and raven haired slayer scowled at her in return.

"We're girls!" Faith shot back, pouting ever so slightly. Willow chuckled.

"We know that, silly. But you know... this is like... girly girl talk. Shopping, school dances, first kisses, drive in movies... that sort of stuff." Willow replied, the amusement evident in her voice. Faith looked her up and down, only pouting more.

"You better not be planning on stealing my girlfriend." Faith said in a low voice, but smiled gently when Dawn reached over and hit her on the arm playfully.

"You better not be putting any ideas into her head about sex before marriage!" Buffy quipped, crossing her arms over her chest, then shrugging as Willow shot her a look.

"Buffy!" Dawn scorned her, her cheeks flushing slightly. The blonde slayer held up her hands defensively.

"I'm just saying!" Buffy replied back quickly.

"You better not plan on giving me any advice on the birds and the bees, Buffy." Dawn warned her, noticing how her sister now became slightly embarrassed, kicking the ground under her feet a little. Talking about sex with Dawn was not exactly something that was her strong point.

"You two just go along, have slayery type fun and... and... get to know each other a little more. I think you two could stand to bond some, don't you think, Buffy?" Willow eyed the blonde slayer cautiously, her eyes telling her that she should do it, at least for the sake of her sister.

"I guess she has a point." Faith relented, frowning slightly, but cheering up a little as her grinning girlfriend pulled her down for a soft kiss.

"Go on! We'll meet you back at HQ later, ok?" Dawn said softly, smiling first at Faith, then her sister. The two slayers nodded slowly, knowing there was no way to argue with these women.

"Just don't stay out too late, ok?" Buffy told both Dawn and Willow very seriously, putting on her very best stern face. The red head smiled cheekily.

"Don't you worry about us, just go have fun!" Willow replied, watching as the slayers slowly turned and started to walk off, but not without turning to look back behind them to make sure Dawn and Willow were still fine.

"She doesn't have a clue!" Willow poked Dawn in the ribs, a huge grin on her face, once she knew Faith was out of earshot. Dawn grinned back at the red head.

"Come on Wills! The store's back here." Dawn replied quickly, linking her arm with the wiccan's and tugging her in the direction of the shop she had spotted.

* * *

><p>Faith and Buffy had been wandering around the city and random stores for a while now, not talking much, except for the occasional small talk. Faith had been fondling a pair of lacy black underwear on a rack while daydreaming about what Dawn would look like in it. She must have been out of it for quite some time, because when she finally came too, Buffy was staring at her bemusedly, arms crossed over her chest.<p>

Faith instantly blushed and moved away from the underwear, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Nice... um... material." she lied, unable to think of another way to get herself out of hot water. Buffy laughed quietly, following her to another section of the clothing store.

'Right. I'm sure most people just stand there with their eyes glazed over and a goofy look on their face while thinking about what material something is made out of." Buffy replied, not fooled by Faith's lie.

"Ok! So maybe I wasn't! Big deal." Faith quipped back, trying her best to distract herself by flicking through a rack of jeans. Buffy followed suit, inspecting a line of pale blouses next to the jeans rack.

"You were thinking about Dawn, weren't you?" Buffy asked inquisitively, watching the raven slayer carefully for her reaction. She instantly noticed Faith's eyes shift from side to side a little. The blonde smiled.

"It's ok, Faith. You can talk to me about it, you know." Buffy replied kindly, her eyes watching as Faith took in a slow, deep breath.

"No. I know. It's just... she's your sister, and I respect that... you know? I kind of feel a little... awkward talking about her to you. It's sort of like... going to your dad to ask what a period is... or something." Faith replied, unsure if her wording was making sense. Buffy laughed.

"That would just be all kinds of awkward." Buffy agreed, shaking her head a little. Faith sensed some of the tension between them easing, and let herself smile.

They continued looking through the clothes in relative silence, and as Faith picked up a beautiful red shirt with sparkles and glitter on the front of it, Buffy blurted out something that almost made her drop it.

"Do you love her?"

Faith's eyes jumped to Buffy's, instantly looking like a deer caught in the headlights of a car. Her mouth opened and closed a few times, no sound coming out. Buffy cringed and instantly regretted asking it.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything, I just... " the blonde started, but was interrupted.

"No, Buffy. I'm sorry. You just... kind of caught me off guard there." Faith replied, putting the shirt back before just standing there staring at it, zoning out a little. Buffy watched her curiously.

"I... I dunno B. She... she makes me feel things, y'know? Like... like coming home. After finishing a patrol. Sometimes I've found her, just sitting in her office, looking all like she's in some other world with this dreamy smile on her face. And I think to myself... just like that... I could just stand there and watch her forever, knowing that she's happy." Faith begun, looking over at Buffy quickly to make sure what she was saying was ok. The blonde slayer watched her, smiling and giving a small nod for her to continue. Faith licked her lips.

"And... it's so strange. I mean, I've had people in my bed next to me before. But... somehow it's different with her... it's like... she belongs there. And it's the best feeling in the world to just... get in next to her, wrap my arms around her and fall asleep. It's like nothing else matters. Just her and me." Faith continued.

Buffy was looking at her, almost... dreamily? Maybe it was happiness, she couldn't tell...

Faith shrugged. "I dunno. It's been so long since I last loved anyone. Sometimes I think... maybe it is love. But... then I get scared. Everyone I've ever admitted to loving has either hurt me, or they've been hurt. I'm just so terrified of that happening to Dawn." Faith's tone became lower now, and Buffy could sense her becoming emotional. It was certainly a side to this raven slayer she hadn't experienced first hand before.

It took a few moments for Faith to realise that the blonde had a hand on her arm. She looked down at it, then at Buffy.

"You just need to give it time. It's one of those words that really need to wait for the right time. You have to be sure you're ready to say it out loud. But... I can tell that you truly do love her. Even if you can't say it yet." Buffy replied, giving her arm a slight squeeze.

Faith blushed a little and looked at her feet.

"Thanks, B." she mumbled in reply, unable to look the other slayer in the eyes.

"So. Wanna go grab a bite?" Buffy asked, watching as Faith finally looked up, before slowly nodding and smiling in return.

"Sure." she replied quickly, following Buffy as they left the store and begun searching for a decent place to get some take away. As they were, it was Faith's turn to ask a personal question.

"So. You and Willow huh?"

Buffy nearly tripped over her own feet at that moment, her face becoming flushed and her eyes widening. She looked around quickly, before trying her best to regain her composure.

"What do you mean, me and Willow?" she played it cool. Faith grinned widely, slapping the blonde playfully on the arm.

"Come on B, you can't fool me! I SAW how you guys have been eyeing each other off since you got here. It's so obvious, I'm surprised Dawn hasn't figured it out yet!" Faith replied, her grin just widening more as Buffy blushed even deeper.

"I... I don't know w-what you're talking about... not a clue." Buffy shook her head, but her nervousness gave away everything. Faith laughed loudly.

"Oh my god, B! You and Willow are doing the horizontal tango! Wow, I never thought of you as a ladies man before!" Faith teased her even further, watching as Buffy's face turned to one of pleading.

"Faith! Please... I... don't tell Dawn. You can't!" she begged her, her eyes almost looking as if they might start tearing up at any moment. Faith lowered her eyebrows at her.

"Whoa there, B. You do know your sister is going to find out eventually, right?" Faith asked curiously, stopping to search for a place to sit. She spotted an empty bench a few metres away from what appeared to be a cafe` of some sort.

Moving over to take a seat, she motioned for Buffy to follow her, who did so while hanging her head dejectedly. Faith reached into her side pocket and pulled out a packet of cigarettes, taking one out and then lighting it while waiting for Buffy to continue.

"I just don't want her to know yet. I mean... I don't even know what Willow and I have yet. It could be something... but I don't want to hurt Dawn. I know she would support us, but if we didn't work out... she'd be devastated... and I couldn't handle hurting her like that." the blonde replied, her voice quietening. Faith nodded slowly.

"I understand that, B. But as soon as you and Willow are sure that it's...'something'... you gotta' tell her, ok?" Faith told her sternly, watching as the slayer nodded quickly, still not looking at her. The raven slayer smiled.

"Anyway, are you gonna give me all the juicy details? How did you two end up in each others' pants?" Faith teased, watching as Buffy frowned and glared at her finally. Faith shrugged and took a drag of her smoke.

Buffy sighed before relenting. Faith had been honest with her about her feelings for Dawn, now it was her turn to return the favour.

"Well... you know her and Kennedy broke up. It was... hard on her. You see, she found out Kennedy had cheated on her. One thing led to another, there was a shouting match, before you know it I found myself in the middle of it and throwing that bitch out of the house and nearly beating her to all hell. I told her to never come near my Willow again..." Buffy started, playing nervously with a random thread on her jeans that was sticking out.

Faith knitted her brow and swore to herself that if she ever ran into that Kennedy bitch again, she would give her a personal message from B herself. She'd been so busy travelling around in America looking for adventure, she'd never known what had happened between the red head and her stuck up girlfriend.

"Anyway, I just found myself doing my best to console Wills. She was so hurt... after everything. All this time and I never even realised just how much she meant to me, even more than a best friend. It had only been a few days, but I spent every night just holding her while she cried her poor little eyes out, and it was killing me. Then one night, I just did the only thing I could to stop her tears. I kissed her..." Buffy was blushing now, but she was smiling slightly at the memory.

Faith grinned, thinking of the oh-so-smooth slayer just planting a big ol' wet one on the wiccan's lips. It was so obvious the little redhead was pining for Buffy, and it made her strangely happy to think that after all this time the girl had finally caught B.

"Wow B, now that's intense." Faith told her, watching as Buffy blushed even more.

"I never thought something like that... could feel so right." Buffy said quietly, her lips smiling even more now. Faith chuckled.

"Trust me B, nothing quite compares to the feel of another woman in your arms, that much I know." Faith told her, finishing off her cigarette and throwing it to the ground, before butting it out with her boot. Buffy nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, hey, I guess we both finally found something we agree on!" Buffy blurted out suddenly, looking up at the raven slayer with a huge grin on her face. Faith laughed some more, before standing up and motioning to the cafe`.

"I guess so, huh B?" she replied, watching as Buffy stood as well and started walking towards the cafe`.

"Think you can give me some pointers?" Buffy asked, looking over at her enthusiastically.

"Oh yeah, I've got some tips that will make Red's toes curl." Faith grinned in reply, watching as Buffy laughed shyly.

Who would have thought, Faith giving Buffy advice on sex?

* * *

><p>It was quite a bit later when Buffy and Faith finally arrived back at the HQ, and it took some asking around before one of the younger slayers told them they had seen Willow and Dawn head into the library, not half an hour before they had gotten back.<p>

As Buffy pushed the library doors open, she was greeted with the sight of Giles, Willow and Dawn, all sitting around a large brown box in the middle of the room, tied up with a pink ribbon.

First Buffy, then Faith, eyed off the box suspiciously before turning their gazes to the overly excited and pleased-with-themselves women in question.

"Uh oh. Please don't tell me, it's not a demon in a box, is it?" Buffy asked sarcastically, an eyebrow raised.

"No! It's better. In fact, it's a gift for Faith." Willow said triumphantly, her mouth turned up into a bright smile. Dawn was beside her, playing with the ribbon and watching for her girlfriend's reaction.

Faith pursed her lips and eyed the box carefully, walking over to stand next to it, still facing Giles and the 2 girls.

"A gift for me?" she asked curiously, looking between the wiccan and the watchers. Dawn nodded quickly.

"Yes, Dawn and Willow called me today while they were out, and begged that I uh... make an exception for this particular... um... circumstance." Giles said carefully, adjusting his glasses and trying his very best not to give away whatever the surprise was.

Faith squinted and ran her fingers over the box a little, wondering what on earth could be in it.

"Well? Are you going to open it?" Dawn asked impatiently, standing up and looking at her girlfriend expectantly. Faith looked at her slowly, wondering what on earth had gotten into everyone all of a sudden.

"Sure I... I guess no ones ever really given me anything this... um... big before." she chose her words carefully, trying her best to sound cool, but on the inside she was bursting at the seams. This was really for her?

Faith knelt down and started carefully untying the pink bow, biting her lip a little as she concentrated. She didn't want to go ripping it off, no. She wanted to savour this very special moment. She noticed Dawn watching her with a shine in her eyes, and she couldn't help but look back at her girlfriend lovingly.

As she finally undid the bow and let it fall to the ground, she took a deep breath. She slowly lifted the lid as she looked at Dawn and began to speak.

"You didn't get me an inflatable version of you did ya' Dawn? Cos that would be..."

Faith's words tapered off as she looked down and saw what was in the box. Her mouth dropped to the ground, or so it felt. Her heart jumped up into her throat and she swore that it felt like her eyes were about to fall out of her head.

"It... it...it's... it's a..." she was stumbling over her words, every time she tried to speak, she couldn't get more than a syllable or two out as she reached down into the box.

At this point, everyone was staring down into it, then back up at Faith, huge grins on all of their faces. As Faith picked up the contents of the box, standing back up, everyone clearly saw the tears forming in her eyes.

Faith pressed the adorable ball of fur close to her chest, hugging it tightly and nuzzling her face against it.

"It's a golden retriever puppy!" Dawn exclaimed, watching as a few stray tears slipped down Faith's cheeks. Oh god, it was making her so incredibly happy to see the absolute joy and love in her girlfriend's eyes right now. She moved over and wrapped her arms around both Faith and the puppy, pressing a soft kiss to the slayer's neck.

"Dawnie..." Faith sobbed quietly, but her mouth still had the most adorable smile on it in the world. She held the puppy to herself closer as it wagged it's tail and tilted it's head up, licking her chin. She laughed emotionally, kissing it back on it's forehead.

Faith finally managed to get the strength to look down at her girlfriend, then at Willow, then Buffy, then Giles.

"Was everybody in on this?" she asked, her mind boggled.

Buffy grinned and shrugged her shoulders. Willow was beaming proudly, Giles looked quite pleased with himself, and her girlfriend was just looking into her eyes with the most loving look she'd ever seen.

"This morning, while you were getting dressed, I told Buffy and Willow what I was planning. Then Giles later. We all agreed that you need to have a puppy, to make up for never having a pet growing up. It seemed only fair... besides..." Dawn stroked her girlfriend's cheek, wiping away some tears and smiling tenderly at her.

Faith looked into the watcher's deep blue eyes, this feeling of something completely new and amazing to her just washing over her entire body.

"Think of it as a way for us to share and nurture our love together." Dawn finished, her hand still stroking her girlfriend's cheek.

Faith was so overwhelmed. Oh man... this was beyond words. She couldn't believe that Dawn had gotten her a dog! A beautiful dog, that was going to have a beautiful life with her and her beautiful love! Her whole heart felt like it was going to explode, burst through her ribcage and shower everyone with nothing but raw emotion. Her body was on fire, ignited with something extreme and intangible. It was what she did next, that surprised everybody.

"I LOVE YOU DAWN!" She proclaimed, fresh tears streaming down her face.

Before Dawn even had a chance to react, her mouth was being covered by Faith's, her lips and tongue being devoured. She moaned headily into the kiss, perfectly aware of how hard the slayer was grasping onto her with her free hand.

"Ohh..." Willow gasped, holding a hand to her mouth.

Giles nervously adjusted his glasses, before quickly taking them off to clean them.

Buffy just stood there, fanning her face, tears starting to well up in her eyes too.

"Ok... now see... this is why I don't do weddings." she managed to speak, overwhelmed by how much love she could feel Faith pouring onto her sister. She'd always wanted Dawn to find love, but she never expected her to find it in someone like the raven slayer. She couldn't deny though, the two did something to each other. It was strange, someone who had once been her mortal enemy... and now she felt nothing but peace towards her. Peace was also all she could feel radiating from the two.

As she looked over caringly at her dear wiccan, they could almost hear each other's thoughts. Today they had witnessed the joining of two souls into one. Everything perfect and imperfect in each of the girls, completed by the other. Something that for the longest time they had both forgotten existed had been found and ignited by the most unlikeliest of people.

A battle and life hardened warrior, and a sweet, innocent, but wilfully strong watcher.

"I love you... I love you, I love you, I love you so much Dawnie." Faith whispered, almost unable to believe she was whispering it over and over to the younger girl, who now also had tears forming in her eyes.

"I love you too Faith, always and forever." she replied, relishing in the sweet kisses the slayer continued to press to her lips.

It was then and there that Dawn knew, she had finally opened the floodgates to her girlfriend's soul.

* * *

><p>Buffy, Willow, Faith and Dawn had spent the next few hours playing with the puppy, taking it around the complex and introducing it to all the others, much to their squealing delight. Faith however, was already forming the closest bond with it.<p>

She had decided, despite all name suggestions from everyone, and a slight disagreement from Dawn, that she would call their beautiful girl puppy, Sammie. She insisted that the name seemed absolutely perfect for such a beautiful little dog that she got to have and call her own.

It wasn't long though before they decided it was starting to get late, and that heading to bed would be a good idea, which was seconded by several large yawns from Sammie.

* * *

><p>Faith took extra care in setting up lots of nice soft blankets into a bed for Sammie on the floor at the end of her bed, along with placing a thick layer of newspaper on the bathroom floor with a bowl of water and dog food.<p>

She cooed and whispered to Sammie as she placed her down on the bed she'd made, watching happily as the puppy got comfortable, giggling as she did circles before settling down into a fluffy ball, watching her new owner through eyes that were fast closing and giving way to sleep.

Giving the puppy a few more loving strokes, she stood up smiling.

"This is the best present anyone has ever given me, babe. We're going to make awesome parents." Faith called out to her girlfriend, who was in the bathroom brushing her teeth and getting ready for bed. She heard Dawn chuckle from behind the half open bathroom door.

"You deserve it, and yes, we are going to make great parents." came Dawn's happy reply.

Faith smiled to herself and stripped down to her underwear and a thin T-shirt, before slipping into her side of the bed, leaving only one small bedside lamp on that lit up the room dimly.

Getting comfortable under the sheets, she watched the bathroom and waited for her girlfriend to emerge. The bathroom light switched off, and Faith's eyes suddenly glazed over as she watched what approached her, bathed in gentle lighting and shadows.

"... Dawnie..." she whispered under her breath, taking in the sight of her sexy girlfriend.

Dawn was wearing thin black lacy panties and a bra, so thin in fact, It wasn't leaving anything to the imagination. Faith could clearly see the outline of her girlfriend's areola underneath the fabric, and the smooth line between her legs. The raven slayer swallowed, watching as Dawn sauntered slowly over to the bed, something incredibly predatory in her eyes, which were done up just the way she liked it in dark black eye-liner and eye-shadow. Her lips where shining with a deep red lipstick, and her hair was flowing around her face and down her shoulders in soft curls and waves.

"Damn... Dawn..." Faith growled, watching as her girlfriend smiled at her, lowering herself onto the bed and crawling across to her on all fours.

The raven slayer licked her lips as Dawn swung a leg over her hips, straddling her, then leaning down and bringing her lips within scant millimetres of Faith's. The slayer tried to reach up and capture those luscious lips, but the watcher pulled hers away quickly, smiling seductively and teasingly down at her.

Faith growled again, this time more hungrily, wrapping a hand around the back of Dawn's neck and pulling her down to her for a searing kiss. Their lips opened and made way for their tongues, sliding against each other and massaging the other. Dawn rocked her hips slowly, grinding against Faith's crotch through the sheets as their kiss deepened.

With one swift movement, Faith reached around her girlfriend and then flipped her onto her back. Now it was her turn to be on top.

Dawn bit her lip and looked into Faith's eyes, letting them wander her slim, toned form. The younger girl gasped as the slayer leant down and pressed her lips to Dawn's neck, gently suckling on the warm soft skin before trailing hot kisses all along it. She continued kissing her way down, over her collarbone, her chest, reaching her bra covered breasts.

Faith gently took one of the fabric covered nipples between her teeth, biting down on it just a little. This made Dawn inhale sharply and arch her back. Faith smiled and trailed her lips over the fabric to the other breast, doing the same thing to the other nipple and getting the same reaction.

Reaching around behind the younger girl, Faith found the clasp and easily unhooked the bra. She then slowly slid the loose straps down Dawn's arms, until they left the tips of her long elegant fingers. Watching with a hungry smile, she waited for Dawn to slowly pull the covering off of her breasts, exposing the soft mounds beneath. Her nipples had hardened from the cold and arousal, pink and inviting.

The slayer leant down and began teasing the right nipple, at first just gently brushing it with her lips, then licking it tenderly with her tongue, before finally wrapping her mouth around it and sucking it hungrily.

"God... Faith..." Dawn moaned, closing her eyes and running her fingers through the thick, dark tendrils of hair, pressing her harder against her breast. Faith moaned in delight, before moving her lips to the left breast to repeat the process.

After about a minute or two of suckling and licking Dawn's pert nipples, Faith began to kiss her way down the girl's taut stomach. She could hear Dawn repeating her name in whispers, as her lips drew ever closer to her aching crotch.

The slayer inhaled the sweet, musky scent of her woman, moaning quietly as she pressed fleeting kisses over the thin panties that were covering her goal. Each kiss caused a rising of Dawn's hips, becoming desperate against her lips.

With a smile, Faith hooked her fingers under both sides of the fabric, and slowly started to drag it down the girl's thighs. She purposely let her fingers graze as much flesh as possible on the way down, teasing her girlfriend and letting the anticipation build up.

As the fabric finally slipped off the ends of Dawn's feet, Faith began kissing her way back up her thighs, still grazing her fingers over them as she did.

When she finally reached Dawn's pussy, she marvelled in it's beauty. So soft, supple, neatly trimmed and glistening from moistness.

"You have such a beautiful pussy babe." Faith purred, pressing a kiss to it softly before crawling back up the watcher's body to press another deep kiss to her lips. As they kissed, Faith pressed two fingers gently between her folds, finding her engorged clit and rubbing it slowly in a circular motion.

Dawn's hips bucked wildly, and she moaned loudly into her slayer's mouth.

Faith continued pressing into her girlfriend's clit for several minutes, letting it build up more and more, until Dawn finally pulled her lips away and looked desperately into her eyes.

"Faith..." she whispered breathlessly, clinging to her strong, muscular body. Faith smiled down at her as she slowed her ministrations.

"What is it baby?" she asked quietly, watching as Dawn's eyes fluttered open and closed from the pleasure.

"Faith... take me..." she finally replied, her breath catching in her throat as she looked deeply into her lover's eyes. That was all the slayer needed.

She sat up briefly, pulling her shirt over her head, before laying back down on top of her girlfriend and gently working her fingers down her slit, which was now dripping with wetness. Dawn clung tightly to Faith, her fingernails digging into her back, much to the slayer's delight.

After one more burning kiss, Faith pressed her index and middle finger gently to Dawn's entrance. She broke the kiss, watching as her girlfriend panted uncontrollably.

"Are you ready for this, Dawnie?" she asked her quietly, pressing a soft kiss to her lips.

Dawn took a deep breath before nodding quickly and smiling. "I'm ready. Make me yours..."

"This might hurt a little bit." Faith replied, stroking her hair reassuringly with her free hand and watching Dawn's face as she slowly, slowly, pushed her fingers in.

Dawn reared her head back and cried out loudly as she felt her hymen break, and she could feel a stream of warm liquid run down from her entrance. She knew it would be blood.

"It's ok, just relax, feel me inside you." Faith told her soothingly, pressing kisses along her jawbone, neck and ear.

Dawn closed her eyes, trying to ignore the discomfort and focus on Faith's fingers pressing deep inside of her.

Faith's breath was ragged and husky against Dawn's skin, and the sensation of being inside her warm, tight tunnel was driving her insane. She could feel all the muscles pressing the slick walls against her fingers, and as she pressed her thumb to Dawn's clit, she had to quickly cover her mouth with her own to silence the loud cries that came with it.

The Watcher felt as though she had no control over her body. Her lover was pressed firmly against her, her breasts and nipples rubbing against her own, and her fingers... the way they were moving inside her, so slowly but surely. The stinging sensation from her pussy being opened up was slowly fading away, and being replaced with throbbing, overwhelming pleasure.

"_F-Faith... Faith... oh god... don't... don't stop... please..."_ Dawn whispered, her voice being overtaken by her gasps for breath and her deep, throaty moans. The thrusts were slowly picking up pace inside of her, and there was a spot that her girlfriend kept hitting that sent waves of pleasure and shivers down her spine.

She could hear her own wetness as Faith's fingers slid in and out of her, and her thumb danced across her tender, hardening clit.

"_God baby... you're so tight... and wet..."_ Faith moaned into her ear, picking up her pace a little more as her girlfriend's pulse raced faster and faster. She could hear her breath coming in quicker, shorter gasps and her muscles were twitching, glistening with a sheen of sweat. She knew she was getting close.

"_Faith... Faith... I'm... I'm..."_ Dawn barely managed to gasp, grasping at her slayer and digging her nails in, her head arching back as she felt the waves of pleasure start between her legs.

"_That's right... come for me baby..."_ Faith purred, quickening her pace even more now, making sure to press the tips of her fingers firmly into her g-spot.

Dawn felt the orgasm overtake her whole body. It started in her lower abdomen, washing up through her upper body all the way to her head, and then down to her toes. It felt like a current of electricity was racing through every vein, every pore in her body. Every muscle was violently contracting, and her aching pussy exploded on Faith's hand, pulling it into her tightly.

She wasn't even aware that there was a hand over her mouth, she was completely oblivious to her own screams of pleasure. She just kept riding Faith's fingers, her eyes closed tightly as her earth shaking orgasm brought her to the brink of blacking out, before slowly easing off and bringing her back to reality.

She was gasping for air as she finally opened her eyes, seeing the complete love and adoration in her girlfriend's shimmering brown eyes.

"_Oh... God... baby..." _Dawn whispered, slowly regaining her breath as she relaxed into the slayer's gorgeous body. Faith grinned and rolled off of her, then pulling the younger girl to rest her head against her chest.

"How's that for your first time?" Faith teased lightly, pressing a kiss to her forehead. Dawn mumbled incoherently, causing the slayer to chuckle. She slowly eased her fingers out of her girlfriend's still tight tunnel, holding her tightly as the girl bucked and gasped from losing that wonderful filling feeling.

"Mmmm... that was amazing..." Dawn finally managed to drawl, snuggling even closer as Faith pulled the blankets over their spent bodies. "I wish I could give you the pleasure you just gave me."

Faith pressed another kiss to her forehead and stroked her hair.

"You will. But not tonight. This was for you, Dawnie." Faith told her lovingly, watching as her girlfriend closed her eyes and started to doze off.

"Mm... love you Faith." Dawn mumbled, clinging to the warm, smooth body beside her. The slayer smiled and felt a wave of adoration flow through her.

"I love you too, Dawnie." she replied, holding the Watcher to her and also drifting off into one of the most peaceful sleeps she'd had in a long time.


End file.
